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OF CHRIST 




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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME. 
Markx. 1U-16. 



THE 

LIFE OF CHRIST 

RETOLD IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE. 

By JEAN S. REMY. 




WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY JULIUS SCHNORR. 



NEW YORK: 

A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER;; 



^ola 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

JUL. 8 1901 

Copyright entry 
CLASS CK> XXe. N» 

1*1 * 

COPY B. 






Copyright, 1901, by A. L. Bukt. 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST, 
RETOLD IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE. 
By JEAN S. REMY. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 'AGE 

I. The First Christ-mas 1 

II. The Wise Men 6 

III. The Flight to E-gypt 9 

IV. Je-sus — the Boy . . 14 

V. Je-sus — the Son of Man . . . ; 20 

VI. Je-sus in the Des-ert ; and in the World 24 

VII. Je-sus at Home 32 

VIII. Je-sus Heals the Sick 34 

IX. Je-sus Speaks from the Hill-side 40 

X. Je-sus Gives Life to the Dead 44 

XI. Je-sus Speaks Great Truths in Short Stories 49 

XII. Je-sus Brings to Life the Dead Daugh-ter of Ja-i-rus — 
Jesus Feeds Five Thou-sand from a few Loaves and 

some Small Fish 53 

XIII. Je-sus Tells Men that He has Come to Them as the Son 

of God ; that He is not to be Crowned as King here 

on the Earth 63 

XIV. Je-sus Gives Life to Laz-a-rus, who was Dead 70 

XV. Je-sus Goes to Je-ru-sa-lem 80 

XVI. Ju-das Gives Je-sus up to His Foes 86 

XVII. Je-sus is Tried for His Life 95 

XVIII. The Death of Jesus 102 

XIX. The First Easter 113 

XX. Je-sus Comes to His Dis-ci-ples 119 

XXI. Je-sus Goes Home to His Father : 125 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FIRST CHRIST-MAS. 

The word Christ-mas, now rings, with a glad sound, far 
and wide in this great world ; and the day is kept with 
mirth and joy, as the birth-day of Je-sus, the Christ-child. 
When you have read of His sweet, pure life, full of good 
deeds and kind thoughts, a new joy will fill your hearts as 
you keep the day of His birth. Let us see just how the 
first Christ-mas of all was kept. 

It is now two thou-sand (2000) years since God sent the 
an-gel Ga-bri-el to the town of Gal-i-lee in the land of Beth- 
le-hem ; his work here was to bear the word of God to a 
young maid whose name was Ma-ry. So fair and sweet 
was Ma-ry, so kind and good, that all who knew her, loved 
her well. She was a poor girl, and knew what it was to 
work hard ; but the blood of kings ran in her veins ; straight 
from the house of Da-vid, that great king of the Jews, 
Ma-ry could trace her birth. 

The name of the an-gel whom God sent to Ma-ry means 
the Might of God ; but we can-not think that he came but 
in might and pow-er to Ma-ry, for his first words were : 



THE LIFE OP CHKIST. 



" Fear not, Ma-ry." A great peace filled the young girl's 
heart, though there was awe as well ; for she knew she was 
to hear the word of God. It was a strange, sweet thing 




" Fear not, Ma-ry," spake the an-gel as he told her she was to be the moth-er of the 

child Jesus. 

that Ga-bri-el had to tell Ma-ry — that she was to have a son, 
whose work would be to save the whole world from sin. 
Ga-bri-el said she must name her child Je-sus, and that He 
would be known as the son of God. The wise men of the 



THE FIRST CHRISTMAS. 3 

Jews had told of Him through long years ; and Ad-am and 
Eve had known He would come to earth to save men from 
the sin which they had brought in-to the world. When 
Ma-ry heard the words of Ga-bri-el, she fell on her knees and 
hid her face from his sight, as she said in a meek, low 
voice : — " Let it be with me as the Lord wills." 

The Jews, at this time, were ruled by the Ro-mans ; and 
the Ro-man king, Herod, was a bad man, who had no love 
for the Jews, and made harsh laws, which they were forced 
to keep. One of these laws was that all the Jews must go 
to the town from which the head of the house came, so that 
the Ro-mans could count them and then make them pay a 
tax. Ma-ry was the wife of Jo-seph, a car-pen-ter in Gal-i- 
lee, who, like her, came from the house of Da-vid. Beth-le- 
hem was the town of the great king, so it was here that the 
two went to be taxed, and here that the first Christ-mas 
Day was kept. 

Beth-le-hem was a long way from Gal-i-lee, and the road 
there was rough and wild ; up and down high hills, where 
sharp stones cut the tired feet, and o-ver broad plains on 
which the dust lay thick and fine. The lit-tle band of Jews 
that went with Jo-seph and Ma-ry were, at least, a week on 
this long trip. You can see that Ma-ry, the young wife, 
must have been tired and worn, when, at the close of one 
long day, they climbed the last steep hill and reached Beth- 
le-hem. 

Crowds filled the lit-tle town, and no place could be found 
for Jo-seph and Ma-ry in the one small inn. In vain, 
Jo-seph went from house to house to find a place of rest ; 
all were full. It was dark and cold ; the night came on 
fast, and still Jo-seph did not know what to do with his 
poor, young wife. Back of the inn was a barn in which 



4 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

the farm beasts were kept ; it was a rough, rude place — 
just a cave in the side of a rock ; wa-ter dripped from the 
stone sides, and on the damp mud floor was the straw on 
which the beasts slept. The man who owned the inn told 
Jo-seph that he and his wife might come here, and he gave 
them a small, flat lamp of clay that at least a dim light 
might shine in the dark, damp place. 

Too tired to know or care, with but one wish, to find rest 
and warmth, Ma-ry lay down on the straw in the rude 
barn, and here was born the dear Christ-child to whom we 
now raise glad songs of love and praise. There was no bed 
in the barn, so the ba-by was laid in the man-ger or bin in 
which hay was kept for the beasts to eat. The birth-place 
of Je-sus could not have been more mean and poor ; but it 
was not the will of God that none should bow the knee to 
Him and know Him for their king. 

On the fields near Beth-le-hem were some men called shep- 
herds with their sheep ; as they kept their watch a great 
light, far more bright than the rise of sun or moon, broke 
in the clear sky and shone round them ; in the midst of the 
light stood an an-gel. Fear filled their hearts, but the an-gel 
said : " Fear not ; I bring you glad news ; there is born this 
day in the town of Da-vid a Sa-viour who is Christ the Lord. 
You shall know Him by this sign ; He is wrapped in long 
bands and laid in the man-ger from which the beasts feed." 

As these glad words filled their ears, the dazed men saw 
a host of an-gels join the first one. Then the still night air 
rang with a great song of joy, the words of which now 
sound in our Christ-mas songs : " Glo-ry be to God on high ; 
— on earth peace, good-will to men." As soon as the an-gel 
host had gone, the men left their sheep and went in haste 
to Beth-le-hem to see the child of whom the an-gels sang. 



THE FIRST CHRISTMAS. 5 

It was not hard to find the spot where the Christ-child lay, 
for there was but one ba-by in Beth-le-hem whose bed was 
in a barn. 




It was a strange sight for Ma-ry when the shep-herds came to see her lit-tle child and 
bow down to Him as their king 

It was a strange sight on which Ma-ry looked when these 
men came in the cave to see her lit-tle child and bow down 
to Him as their king. The dim light of her lamp shone on 
a group of big, strong men, dressed in rough, warm clothes, 



6 THE LIFE OF CHBIST. 

with cloaks made from the skins of sheep ; they had come 
in such haste that they may have still held in their hands 
the big sticks with which they fought off the wild beasts 
who tried to harm their sheep. 

Such were the men who first knew Je-sus as their king. 
While they knelt at His feet, they told Ma-ry all that the 
an-gel had said of her child, and when they left her they 
bore the glad word to all whom they met. The news spread 
far and wide, for the crowds that filled the town of Beth-le- 
hem came from all parts of the land, and of course all took 
the strange tale back to their homes. 

Such was the way in which the first Christ-mas was kept 
— a ba-by in a man-ger, watched by the sweet Ma-ry and 
the wise, kind Jo-seph ; a burst of song from an an-gel host, 
and a group of shep-herds bowed low at the feet of their 
king. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE WISE MEN. 

Long years be-fore the birth of Je-sus, the Jews had lost 
their pow-er and were slaves in a strange land. Some of 
their wise men then had said that one day a child should 
be born of the house of Da-vid, who would rule not on-ly 
the Jews, but the whole world. 

Through all the long, hard years the Jews had kept these 
words in their minds, and their wise men did not cease to 
watch for the be-ing who was to free them from their foes 
and make their race once more strong and great. Now, to 
some rich, wise men in the far east, God sent a sign to show 



THE WISE MEN. 7 

them that the new King of the Jews had come to earth. 
A strange star, large and bright, shone out in the sky on 
one dark night, and God put it in the hearts of these wise 
men to know that the star would lead them to their king. 
So great was their faith, so deep their joy, that at once they 
laid by their books in which they had learned much of the 
stars, the sun and the moon ; each man put an end to all his 
work, and made haste to start on the search for the king. 
They were men of great wealth, and bore rich gifts of gold, 
rare gems and sweet spices — such gifts as are laid at the 
feet of the great kings of the earth. They rode on cam-els, 
for long and hard was the way that led from the far east to 
Beth-le-hem. 

The star led them to-ward the w T est, and at last they came 
to the great cit-y of Je-ru-sa-lem ; here the bad and cru-el 
King Her-od lived. To his ears came the cry of the wise 
men, " Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? We 
have seen His star in the east, and we wish to find Him and 
lay our gifts at His feet." 

Now these words did not please Her-od ; he knew that the 
Jews did not like him and would be glad to see a new king 
on his throne, so he made up his mind to kill this young 
child lest the Jews should one day crown Him as their king. 
With this bad thought in his mind, he sent for the priests 
and the wise men in his own land, and asked them where 
this child was who was called King of the Jews. He 
learned that it was in Beth-le-hem ; then he told the wise 
men from the east where they could find the child, and 
asked them when they had paid their vows to come back 
to him and tell him just where He was, that he too might 
lay rare gifts at His feet and kneel to Him in praise. 

On went the wise men, with the star still as their guide ; 



8 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

at last the star stood still in the sky, and the wise men 
knew that their long search had come to an end, and that 
they had found Him whom they had come so far to seek. 




The Christ-child lay in His moth-er's arms, as the group of wise men came in. 



Je-sus was not now in the rude barn — a house had been 
found for Jo-seph and Ma-ry and the ba-by boy with kind 
friends. The Christ-child lay in His moth-er's arms, as the 
group of grave men came in. They did not look at all like 



THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT. 9 

the rough shep-herds who had first knelt to Je-sus ; their 
clothes were rich and fine, and in their hands were the rare 
gifts they had brought from the east, but they knelt with 
the same awe and love that the shep-herds had done, and 
they poured forth all their wealth of gold and gems at the 
feet of the lit-tle ba-by king. Je-sus did not know what the 
rich gifts meant, but we cannot doubt that Jo-seph and 
Ma-ry knew that these wise men of the east felt that they 
knelt at the feet of their king. 

God knew of course the bad thought that was in Her-od's 
heart, and so He told the wise men in a dream not to go 
back home by way of Je-ru-sa-lem for Her-od must not be 
told where Je-sus was. So the wise men left Beth-le-hem 
by a new way, and went to their homes in the far east to 
tell the tale of the Christ-child in those strange lands. We 
hear no more of these wise men, but we can-not doubt that 
they bore the glad news of Je-sus' birth in their hearts as 
long as they lived, and shared it with all whom they met. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PLIGHT TO E-GYPT. 

Her-od could not think that men lived who would dare 
not to do as he said ; and so he watched for a long time for 
the wise men to come back with news of Je-sus. As the 
days slipped past and they did not come, his an-ger grew 
hot ; and his wish to kill the child burned in his bad hear* 
like a fierce fire. At last he knew that there were at least 
three men in the world who had no fear of him, and were 
so brave that they would not place in his hands the life 01 



10 



THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 



Je-sus. Then he did such a cru-el thing that it is sad to 
have to bring it to your minds. He thought of course that 
Je-sus was still in Beth-le-hem, and he knew that He was 




" Her-od sent a band of men and told them to kill all the boy ba-bies not yet two 

years old." 

less than two years old, so he sent there a band of men and 
told them to kill all the boy ba-bies not yet two years old. 
If he could put out of his way this one weak lit-tle child, 
whom he, a great strong man, so feared, he did not care for 
all the grief that he sent to the homes in Beth-le-hem. 



THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT. 



11 



But Je-sus was safe at this sad time, and far from the bad 
king's pow-er. God had warned Jo-seph in a dream of what 
Her-od meant to do, and had told him how to care for Je-sus 



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" God warned Jo-seph in a dream of what Her-od meant to do, and told him how to 
care for Je-sus and Ma-ry." 

and Ma-ry. He said that they must steal out of the town 
by night, and go at once far off to the land of Egypt ; there 
they must stay till Her-od was dead, when God would send 
them word. 



12 



THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 



It was at the dead of night that this word came to Jo- 
seph ; he rose at once and called to Ma-ry : " Rise," he said ; 
" make haste we must take the child and fly in-to Egypt, 




; Jo-seph with Ma-ry and Je-sus pushed on to E-gypt, where they would be safe from 

Her-od." 

for Her-od, the king, seeks to kill him. God has told me in 
a dream : come, let us haste, or it will be too late." You 
can think what fright must have filled the heart of Ma-ry ; 
we can see her lift the ba-by from the bed where He lay in 



THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT. 13 

sleep, and, with Him held close in her arms, join Jo-seph, 
with no thought but to save her lit-tle one from a cru-el 
death. 

The stars shone bright in the dark night-skies ; the moon, 
too, may have shed her soft light to help this lit-tle band of 
three flee from the town to which death was to come so 
soon. Out of the gates they passed, and then, as fast as 
they could, pushed on to E-gypt, where they would be safe 
from Her-od. 

At the best they could not hope to reach E-gypt in less 
than a week, and when the long day's march was done they 
must have laid down to rest on the wide plains of sand 
over which part of their road lay. The nights were cold, 
and so no doubt Jo-seph built big bright fires on the sands ; 
and, while Ma-ry and her child slept, he kept watch to ward 
off wild beasts or still more cru-el men. At the first ray of 
light they would start and push on with all their might. 
We may be sure that Ma-ry did not think how tired and 
worn she was ; her one wish was to put her ba-by in a safe 
place, then she would rest, and Jo-seph, too, who was so 
kind and good ; we may be sure that this big, strong man 
took good care of his young wife and the lit-tle child. 

So they came safe in-to E-gypt, and here the ba-by boy 
grew strong and well, and was just two years old when God 
sent Jo-seph word that Her-od was dead and they could 
now go back to their own land. 



H THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



CHAPTER IV. 

JE-SUS — THE BOY. 

When God said that it was safe to leave E-gypt, Jo-sephand 
Ma-ry took Je-sus and went back to their old home in Gal- 
i-lee. The Bi-ble does not tell us much of this home, nor of 
the life that Je-sus led there ; in fact, it is not till He was 
twelve years old that we hear of Him once more. So we 
have to learn of His home and of what He did from books 
that tell how the rest of the folks in Gal-i-lee lived. In this 
old land time has not changed things much, and at this day 
the homes in this far-off land are much the same as they 
were when Je-sus was a boy. The low, square hous-es are 
white, and have flat roofs, round which runs a rail ; one gets 
on the roof by stairs which run up on the out-side of the 
house. Such must have been the home of Je-sus; in it 
there was but one room ; through its door came in the light 
and air, for there were no win-dows ; a bench on which to 
sit ran round the sides of the room. Bright-hued rugs or 
quilts laid on the floor took the place of beds, and on a small, 
round ta-ble was laid the plain food of those days. The air 
of Gal-i-lee was so mild and soft all the year long that the 
fields were ev-er green, bright flow-ers grew on all sides, and 
bird songs filled the air ; Je-sus grew up in a land of flow-ers ; 
ros-es, red and white, grew on the hills that rose on all sides, 
and all sorts of wild flow-ers smiled on Him as he played in 
the fields of Gal-i-lee. 

If He was brought up as the rest of the boys of those 



JESUS-THE BOY. 15 

days, He was five years old when he was first put at books 
that taught the laws of the land. From then till He was thir- 
teen He was kept at His books ; then a boy was thought to 
be quite a man and did most of the things that a man could. 
You may be quite sure that with so sweet and kind a 
moth-eras Ma-ry the boy-life of Je-sus was as full of joy as 
she could make it. 

At the time when Je-sus lived on earth the Jews once a 
year used to leave their farms and their small towns and 
go up to the great city of Je-ru-sa-lem — the Ho-ly cit-y, as it 
was called — to keep the Feast of the Pass-o-ver. God had 
told them to do this that they might keep in their minds the 
thought of the night when He had led them out of the land 
of E-gypt, where for long years they had been held as slaves. 
When Je-sus was twelve years old, Jo-seph and Ma-ry took 
Him with them on this trip ; and it meant just as much to 
Je-sus to see strange, new sights as it would to the boys of 
this day. Tn the month of A-pril this great feast was kept, 
when all the land was fair with the bloom of fruit trees ; 
birds of gay hue filled the soft, spring air with sweet songs 
as they built their nests in the boughs of the or-ange, fig and 
ol-ive trees that clothed the hills and plains of Pal-es-tine. 

For three days and nights the band of Jews, of which 
Jo-seph and Ma-ry were a part, pressed on to Je-ru-sa-lem ; 
some rode on cam-els, some on mules or horses, but most 
of them were on foot. On the morn of the fourth day 
they saw the great walls of Je-ru-sa-lem — white were they 
as pure snow, with gleams of gold that shone so bright in 
the glare of the sun that one at first must shield the eyes. 
Shouts of joy filled the air and rang to the skies, and as the 
band climbed the last hill that led to Je-ru-sa-lem they sang 
the grand old songs which Da-vid, their king, wrote for use 



16 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

at this great feast. So great was the crowd that poured 
through the cit-y gates, all could not find place to rest in 
Je-ru-sa-lem, but had to pitch their tents on the hills that 
were near-by. 

The great temple of Je-ru-sa-lem — the House of God — 
stood on a high hill in the midst of the cit-y, and was 
reached by long flights of steps ; it was a huge mass of 
pure white stone (mar-ble) and gold that shone as bright as 
the sun on high. It was here through one whole week that 
the feast was kept ; up and down the steep stairs the Jews 
climbed, and each day the great tem-ple was filled to its 
doors, while crowds stood out-side to wait their turn. The 
wise men of the Jews sat in the courts of the temple and 
taught all who wished to hear of the laws of the land and of 
all else that was asked. Here the child Je-sus came with 
the rest, and His young mind found much to think of, while 
His eyes were filled with the beau-ty of the ho-ly place. 

On the third day of the week those who wished might go 
home, and Joseph and Ma-ry, with a crowd of their friends, 
set off at this time. Je-sus was not by his moth-er's side at 
the start ; but when she asked for Him, some one said that 
He was with some of their friends near at hand. She and 
Jo-seph felt no fear, and went their way, till the night came ; 
then when Je-sus did not join them fear and grief filled 
their hearts. They went from group to group in their 
search for the lost boy, but no one had seen him, and it was 
with sad hearts that they turned back to Je-ru-sa-lem. 
Would they find Him sick and tired by the way-side — or was 
He lost in the streets of the great cit-y ? Crowds of Jews 
were on their way home ; but in vain did Jo-seph and Ma-ry 
ask news of their boy from all whom they met. They came 
at last to Je-ru-sa-lem, but it was night and they were both 



JEStTS— THE BOY. 1? 

too worn and faint to look for Him till they had at least a 
few hours' rest. 

At break of day they set forth once more ; for two long 
days they walked the cit-y streets and searched the tem-ple ; 
no word, no trace could they find of Je-sus. Faint and sick 
with grief and fear on the morn of the third day, Ma-ry set 
out by the side of Jo-seph to- ward the tem-ple ; she knew 
that Je-sus had loved this place, and had still a slight hope 
that here He might be found. 

At one end of a large court a crowd pressed close to a 
group of wise men, whose eyes were fixed on one who stood 
in their midst ; the poor f ath-er and moth-er went with the 
rest. A hush fell on the crowd, for the voice which rang 
ciear and sweet on their ears was not that of a man, but of 
a young child, and it was no man to whom the wise man 
gave heed ; it was a boy, clad in the straight white gown of 
those days, who, with bare head, stood in their midst. 

Not a word was said, not a voice was raised save that of 
the child, when, on the still air, there broke a sob of joy ; 
Ma-ry had found her son. Je-sus turned and saw His 
moth-er's face, and soon He made an end of His words and 
was clasped close in her arms. The learn-ed men and the 
great crowd looked in awe at this strange child, whose 
words had been so wise, and yet who was so young that 
He was still in need of a moth-er's care. 

Their hearts were too full for them to speak, and so 
Je-sus passed from them held close by his moth-er's 
hand. 

Then this dear moth-er said to Him : " My son, why did 
you leave us \ Your fath-er and I have looked for you all 
these days with sad hearts. Why have you done this thing 
— what does it mean? Then said Je-sus: "Why did you 



18 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



look for me ? Did you not know that it was time forme to 
do my Fath-er's work ? " 
Ma-ry and Jo-seph did not know what to say to these 




They found Je-sus in the tem-ple talk-ing to the learn-ed men. 



strange words ; they were not sure what Je-sus meant, and 
yet Ma-ry must have thought of what the an-gel had told 
her ere her son was born. We know that Je-sus meant 
that the time had come when it was right for Him to do 



JESUS— THE BOY. 19 

the work that God, His Fath-er in Heav-en, had sent Him 
to do. 

Jo-seph and Ma-ry made haste now to join their friends 
who had gone on to- wards home. Out of the great gates 
of Je-ru-sa-lem, and far from the crowds who filled her long 
streets, back to the qui-et home, in the hills of Gal-i-lee, 
went the dear Christ-child, to lead now for eight-een years 
the life of the folks in that place. 

All that the Bi-ble tells us of these years is that He grew 
both strong and good, and was loved by God and man. It 
is not hard to see the life that Je-sus led till He was thir-ty 
years old ; Jo-seph was a poor man — a car-pen-ter — and lived 
by the work of his hands, so we can-not doubt that Je-sus 
helped him in the shop and learned the same trade. None 
knew He was the Christ ; no one dreamed that the new 
King of the Jews walked and talked with them, ate of 
their bread, and sat in their homes. In all things the Bi-ble 
tells us that the life of Je-sus was just the same as that of 
the rest of men, save one great thing — He knew no sin. 

So the long years went by, and it may be that in the 
heart of Ma-ry the words of the an-gel had grown faint 
and dim, and that she thought Je-sus was the same as His 
broth-ers. Then we come to that great day on which God 
spoke from the sky, and claimed Je-sus as His dear and 
loved son. 



20 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



CHAPTER V. 

JE-SUS — THE SON OF GOD. 

The same great an-gel, Ga-bri-el, who had told Ma-ry of 
the birth of Je-sus, had been sent by God first to a woman 
named E-lis-a-beth. who was Mary's cousin, and who lived 
in the town of Ju-da. He had told her that she would have 
a son, whose name should be called John, and that his work 
would be to turn the hearts of man from sin and tell them 
of their Sa-viour and King who was to come. As a boy, 
John passed his days in the fields and woods ; he lived far 
from towns and cit-ies, and knew more of the flow-ers and 
the birds and the sheep that fed on the hill-sides than he 
did of the folks and their ways. He lived in much the 
same way as a man ; the years spent by Je-sus in peace at 
the home in Gal-i-lee, John had passed in the wild woods, 
and in the cliffs and caves of the great desert of Ju-de-a. 
He ate poor food, and he wore clothes made of coarse hair ; 
his mind was full of but one thing — the king who was to 
come and save the Jews ; and his thoughts were fixed on 
his great work ; to tell folks of the Christ, and to teach 
them to make a place for Him in their hearts. 

All who grieved for their sins and wished to lead a pure 
life, he would bap-tize, and so he was called John the Bap- 
tist. When he left the woods and fields to start his work, 
he found that the Jews had strange thoughts of their king 
in their minds ; they all thought he was to come in might 
and sit on a grand throne and rule the whole world ; but 



JESUS— THE SON OE GOD. 



21 



John told them they must look for their king as a pure, 

ho-ly man — one who would be as poor as the least of them. 

One day John had come to the banks of the riv-er Jor- 




John stood on the banks of the riv-er Jor-dan tell-ing the peo-ple they should see 

their king. 

dan ; a crowd of men and wom-en pressed close to him, for 
they loyed to hear his words. He told them that the day 
was near when they should see their king ; he spoke of the 
might of God and of the love of Je-sus ; and, lo, as the 



22 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



words were on his lips, he saw a man come toward him 
through the great crowd. As the eyes of the two men met, 
John at once knew his Lord ; he fell low on the ground at 




Je-sus stepped down in-to the stream and John bap-tized Him. 

His feet, and in a loud voice that all might hear, he cried : 
" Thou art He ! " 

While the crowd looked on in awe the two men drew 
a-side and Je-sus stepped down in-to the stream that John 



JESUS— THE SON OF GOD. 23 

might bap-tize Him. John of course did not wish to do 
this, for he did not think that he was fit to touch the strings 
that tied his dear Lord's shoes ; but Je-sus wished to show 
men what it was right that they should do ; and so would 
have John bap-tize Him, though there was no need of it, as 
he had no sin. 

John did the will of Je-sus ; and when they came out of 
the stream, and stood once more on the Jor-dan's banks, a 
bright light which took the shape of a dove shone in the 
sky. As Je-sus looked with the rest at this strange sight, 
the shape seemed to float down and rest like a snow-white 
dove on His head ; then, from the sky was heard a voice 
— a voice so clear and strong that all the men and wom-en 
heard the words that fell so sweet on the ear of Je-sus : 
" This is my be-lov-ed Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
What joy, and yet what awe, must have filled the heart of 
Je-sus. For thir-ty years, He had but done the work of the 
day as it came to Him to do in Gal-i-lee ; and now, God 
tells Him that He is pleased with Him and calls Him His 
loved Son. Je-sus could not go back home, and talk of this 
great thing ; He must go where he would see no one, and 
where He could think of what God now wished Him to do. 
So He left the crowd that pressed near to Him, and passed 
from the sight of men in-to the wild wastes of sand and 
rock that formed the des-ert of Ju-de-a. 



24 THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 



CHAPTER VI. 

JE-SUS IN THE DES-ERT; AND IN THE WORLD. 

The des-ert of Ju-de-a was a grim, drear place, where 
great rocks and bare hills rose from a dry waste of sand ; 
no plants nor grass grew here, save such as had no need of 
wa-ter, for it was rare that rain fell. Wild beasts prowled 
a-mong the caves and rocks, and big dark birds, too, made 
their homes here ; no sign of man met the eye of Je-sus as 
He came a-lone to the wild place. 

Je-sus knew that when He left the des-ert to go in the 
world once more He could not lead the life of peace and 
qui-et that had been His in Gal-i-lee. He must take up the 
work He had dropped long years a-go, when as a child He 
taught His Fath-er's will in the tem-ple at Je-ru-sa-lem ; how 
God meant Him to do this, was what He had come to the 
des-ert to find out. He stayed here for-ty days and nights, 
and we read in the Bi-ble that Sat-an came here to tempt 
Him, and to try to make Him sin, as Ad-am and Eve had ; 
but sin had no place in the pure heart of Je-sus and He 
drove Sat-an from Him with the words : — " Get thee gone, 
Sat-an ; you shall not tempt the Lord your God." 

Sat-an had tried hard to force Je-sus to sin, and our Lord 
was weak and worn when the e-vil one left Him. He was 
in need, too, of both food and drink ; so God sent a host of 
an-gels to care for Him, and give Him back His health and 
strength, so that He could leave the des-ert strong and 
well, to take up His work. 



JESUS IN THE DESERT ; AND IN THE WORLD. 



25 



John the Bap-tist and some of his friends watched for 
Je-sus on the banks of the Jor-dan, where he had left them, 
and when at the end of forty days Je-sus came to them, 




Je-sus said un-to Safc-an : ' Get thee gone ; you shall not tempt the Lord your God. 



John cried out : " See, here is the Lamb of God, on Him are 
laid the sins of the world." Then two men, whose names 
were John and An-drew, left John the Bap-tist, and went 
with Je-sus back to His home in Gal-i-lee. 



26 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



He was soon to have more friends, for An-drew brought 
his broth-er Pe-ter to Him, and then two friends of theirs, 
Phil-ip and Na-than-a-el, joined the band. As time went on 




" As Je-sus came to them, John cried out : ' See the Lamb of God, on Him are laid 
the sins of the world.' " 

more men, moved by the words and acts of Je-sus, came to 
Him, till at last He had twelve friends who were ev-er near 
Him or with Him ; these men were called His dis-ci-ples. 
Now, you might think that the first act of Je-sus as the 



JESUS IN THE DESERT ; AND IN THE WOKLD. 



27 



Son of God and the King of the Jews would be some 
great thing done for the good of the whole race of the Jews ; 
but this was not the will of God. It was a small thing that 
He did — just a kind act to help a young bride at her mar- 




Je-sus turn-ing the wa-ter in -to wine at the mar-riage feast in Ca-na. 

riage feast. The feast was held in the town of Ca-na ; to it 
had come Je-sus and some of His new friends. Ma-ry the 
moth-er was there too, and seems to have had charge of the 
feast, for as the hour grew late and more guests still came, 



28 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

she came to Je-sus and told Him that all the wine was 
gone. Now this meant a great deal, for the bride and her 
folks would feel much shame if they could not give wine 
to all who came to the feast. We do not know just how 
great a hope was in Mary's heart when she came to her 
Son, she must have thought He could help her, for she told 
those who served to do just as He bade them. It would 
be sweet to think that Ma-ry knew how great the pow-er was 
that laid in her Son, though as yet He had not shown it. 

Je-sus told the ser-vants to fill six great stone jars full of 
wa-ter, and when they had filled them to the brim, to take 
some to the chief man at the feast. When this man drank 
of it, he said that it was the best wine that had yet been 
served ; then all who had seen the act of Je-sus knew that 
He was more than man, for no mere man could have done 
this thing. This was the first time that Je-sus had tried 
His pow-er since God had called Him His Son, but from 
now on He did such great and strange things that His fame 
spread through the land. 

The next act of Je-sus was such a brave thing to do that 
it shows us at once that He was a man who knew no fear 
and who would do God's work at the risk of His own life. 
It was the time of the great Feast of the Pass-o-ver, and 
Je-sus had come up to Je-ru-sa-lem to keep the feast. As 
He came in to one of the courts of the Tem-ple, He heard a 
great noise of loud, rough talk, and saw that the court was 
filled with those who bought and sold the lambs and doves 
which the priests killed on the al-tars. 

We have known Je-sus till now as a meek man and as a 
kind, good son, but we now see that He could feel great 
scorn for bad acts. He caught up some fine cord and made 
it in-to a thick lash ; with this He drove from the ho-ly place 



JESUS IN THE DESERT ; AND IN THE WORLD. 29 

all the bad men and told them that His Fath-er's house was 
a place of prayer and that they had made it a den of 
thieves. 




Je-sus driv-ing the raon-ey chang-ers and those that sold lambs and doves from 
the Tem-ple. 



Je-sus was but one man in this great crowd and yet not 
a hand was raised and no harm was done to Him. All 
fled from His wrath, they did not e-ven stop to pick up 
the gold and sil-ver coin that rolled on the floor at their 



30 THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 

feet. So Je-sus made pure the great Tem-ple, but by this 
act He made foes of the priests in charge, for they had 
made much mon-ey from those who had bought and sold 
in the Tem-ple. 

On the road from Je-ru-sa-lem to Gal-i-lee lay the land of 
Sa-ma-ri-a. Those who lived here did not like the Jews, and 
the Jews in turn looked down on the folks of Sa-ma-ri-a. 
At the close of one long hot day Jesus came to the town 
of Sy-char in Sa-ma-ri-a. He was worn and tired, and His 
friends left him there to rest by the side of a deep cool well, 
while they went on to the town to seek food and a place in 
which to spend the night. As Je-sus sat here deep in 
thought, a wom-an of Sa-ma-ri-a came to the well to draw 
wa-ter. She did not think that this grave-faced Jew would 
speak to a wom-an of Sa-ma-ri-a, but Je-sus turned His kind 
face toward her and asked for a drink of wa-ter. The 
wom-an said to Him : " How is it that you, a Jew, ask 
drink of me, a wom-an of Sa-ma-ri-a ? " Je-sus told her that 
if she but knew who He was she would ask a great thing 
of Him and that He would give it. Then the two talked for 
a long while. Je-sus, who knew all hearts, spoke to her of 
her past life, which had been full of sins, and told her that 
those who would see God must love Him and lead pure lives. 

The wom-an had heard of the King of the Jews who was to 
come to earth, and she said that she knew when the Mes- 
si-ah (the Jew's name for Christ) came to earth He would 
teach all the truth. Then Je-sus told her that He was the 
Mes-si-ah. When the wom-an heard this she left in great 
haste to spread the news, for her heart told her it was the 
truth. To all whom she saw she cried : " Come, there is a 
man who has told me all my past life ; — is He not the 
Christ?" 



JESUS IN THE DESERT ; AND IN THE WORLD. 31 

Soon a great crowd poured forth from Sy-char to see this 
strange man, and the truth so showed in Je-sus' face and 
His words that trust in Him filled all hearts. Some of the 




As Je-sus sat by the side of the well to rest, a wom-an of Sa-ma-ri-a come to 
draw water." 



folks begged Him to stay there with them, and as Je-sus 
saw that He could do God's work here he stayed on for two 
days. When He left the town a great ma-ny be-lieved on 
Him, and said to the wom-an who had first met him : " You 



32 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

spoke bat the truth ; now that we have seen Him and heard 
Him speak, we know that He is Christ, the Saviour of the 
world." 



CHAPTER VII. 

JE-SUS AT HOME. 

A great grief came to Je-sus on His way home to 
Gal-i-lee ; John the Baptist had dared to tell a bad king of 
his sins, and for this had been put in chains and cast in 
pris-on. 

Je-sus put His own grief from Him, though, and soothed 
those who came to Him with sad hearts. On His trip 
through Gal-i-lee, He came to Ca-na, where He had turned 
the wa-ter to wine. Here, He was met by a rich and great 
man, who lived in Ca-per-na-um. This man's child lay at 
the point of death, and he begged Je-sus to go home with 
him and save his child's life. 

The great, warm heart of Je-sus throbbed with pit-y for 
the f ath-er's grief, and He did not wait to go home with him, 
but soothed him at once as He said : u Go your way, your 
son is cured." What trust Je-sus had in God, to dare to 
say those words, which meant so much. The fath-er went 
in haste to his home ; and while he was yet some ways off, 
some of his men met him with the glad news that his son 
was well. When he heard the time at which the boy was 
cured, he found it was at just the hour that Je-sus had said 
be would be well. We can think how fast the news of this 
kind act of Je-sus would spread ; we know how glad we 



JESUS AT HOME. 33 

would be to have some one heal our sick with just a word ; 
so we can see just how folks of that day would bring the 
sick and the weak to Je-sus, that He might give them back 
their health and strength. 

But, though the fame of Je-sus spread far and near in 
the land, and many hearts turned to Him in love and trust, 
He was met in His own home and in the town of ISTaz-a- 
reth, not with love, but with fierce hate. 

This seems like a strange thing, does it not % See how 
it came to be : — On the first Sab-bath (Sun-day) that He 
spent in Naz-a-reth, He went, with the rest, to church ; the 
folks had heard of His fame, so He was asked to read and 
to preach to them. Je-sus read from what we know as the 
Old Tes-ta-ment, and He chose a part in which one of the 
wise men of the Jews had said, that one day a Saviour 
should come to the Jews, who would heal the sick, and raise 
the dead ; who would give sight to the blind, and make deaf 
ears to hear ; who would bring joy to the whole world. 
Then Je-sus closed the book and talked to them. His first 
words were a shock to those who had known and loved 
Him as a child, who had seen Him in Jo-seph's shop at 
work, and who had known Him for thir-ty years as the car- 
pen-ter's son ; for He told them that He was the Son of 
God, who had come to do all the great things of which they 
had just heard from their wise men of old. 

Eage and scorn filled the hearts of those who heard Him 
speak ; to think that He, the son of Jo-seph and Ma-ry , should 
dare say He was the Son of God ! They rose in their hot 
wrath and drove Him from the church and out of the town 
to the edge of a steep cliff ; then they tried to cast Him 
down this hill, and so kill him. But Je-sus knew that it 
was not yet time for Him to die ; and so, while they pressed 

3 



34 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

close to him with loud cries of rage, and glared at him with 
wild, fierce eyes of hate, He stepped through them and 
passed from their sight. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

JE-SUS HEALS THE SICK. 

Je-sus left Naz-a-reth, for He knew He could not now 
make His home there, and He at once looked for a new 
place in which to live. He chose Ca-per-na-um, and here 
his moth-er and broth-ers came too ; but his sis-ters stayed 
with their hus-bands in Naz-a-reth. 

Je-sus was well known now as one who taught great 
truths ; and one day, as He stood on the shore of a lake in 
Gal-i-lee and watched some men fish from their boats, a 
great crowd pressed close to Him, to hear the Word of God. 
Two boats were drawn up on the shore ; Je-sus stepped 
in-to one of them, owned by a man named Pe-ter, and asked 
that he might be pushed out a ways on the wa-ter, so that 
all could see Him and hear His words. He sat in the small 
boat, as it lay at rest on the blue waves, and spoke kind 
words to the great throng on shore. 

When He had done, it seems as if he wished to thank 
Pe-ter in some way for the use of his boat, for he said to 
him and his broth-er An-drew : "Go out in-to the deep 
wa-ter, and cast out your net for a haul (draught) of fish.'" 
These men had worked all night and had caught no fish ; 
so Pe-ter told Je-sus this, but said that, at His word, they 
would try once more. Then they let down the net, and so 
great was the load of fish that they caught that the net 



JESTJS HEALS THE SICK. 35 

broke with its own weight. Then James and John, who 
were near at hand, came in their boat to help, and they 
filled both boats with the fish. When Pe-ter saw this, he 
fell down on the sand at the feet of Je-sus, and said he 
would be His friend, and stay with Him all his life, that He 
might help Him in His work ; the rest of the men, too, all 
gave up their own work, and left their homes to go with 
Je-sus, and lead the same life that He did. 

One bright Sun-day morn, soon af-ter this, as Je-sus 
preached in a church at Ca-per-na-um, there crept in a poor 
crazed man — one whose brain is not as clear and bright as 
yours is, but wild and strange. As this poor soul looked in 
the pure face of our Lord, light seemed to break on his 
mind, and he cried out in a loud voice : "I know Thee, who 
Thou art ; Thou art Je-sus, the Holy One of God." Je-sus 
told the man to be still, and His words at once calmed the 
crazed, wild brain, and gave the man back his right mind. 

When Je-sus had left the church, Pe-ter came to Him 
and said that his wife's moth-er was sick ; Je-sus went at 
once to Pe-ter's home, and raised the sick woman from her 
bed, and gave her back her health. Two such works in one 
day, in one small town, made much talk ; rich and poor 
heard of this man, who could, at a word, give help to the 
,sick and clear a weak, crazed brain. Ere the night fell, 
crowds of sick folks were brought to Je-sus that He might 
cure them ; and, on them all, Je-sus just laid His hands, 
and they were made well. 

It was a sad sight on which Je-sus looked through all the 
long day, and He was worn and faint when He could at 
last go home for a few hours' rest. The next morn, while 
yet the sun was low in the east, Je-sus rose and stole off to 
the still shores of the lake, that He might talk to His 



36 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Father, where no eye could see Him and no ear hear His 
words. His rest was not to be long ; soon Pe-ter ran to 
Him and cried : " Come, all men seek thee." But Je-sus 
said that His work now lay somewhere else ; He had done 
much in Ca-per-na-um, and must now do God's work in 
other pla-ces. 

So He left the crowds that still would bring their sick to 
Him, and went out in the great world to speak the word of 
God. 

Near one of the big towns there came to Him, as He 
walked a-lone, a man sick with a- foul plague ; this man 
was a lep-er, and none would touch him or come near him 
lest they too might take the plague. 

He crept up to Je-sus and knelt at His feet, while he 
moaned out his prayer : " Lord, if you will, you can make 
me clean." Jesus did not make him ask twice, but said at 
once : " I will, be thou clean." At His words the man's 
flesh was healed ; strength came back to his limbs, and he 
leaped and ran in his joy, and told what Je-sus had done to 
all who came in his way. 

So Je-sus passed on through the towns of the land, and 
in each place He did kind deeds and spoke such words of 
truth and love that the hearts of men turned to- ward Him. 
There was a great class, though, who did not love Him, but 
who feared His pow-er and would like to put Him out of the 
way just as Her-od wished to do when He was a ba-by. 
These were the men who ruled the Jews and did not wish 
folks to see that Je-sus was the new King of the Jews ; 
there were, as well, ma-ny of the Jews who did not see 
the truth of Christ's words, and thought, as the folks in His 
own town did, that He had no right to claim to be the Son 
of God. 



JESUS HEALS THE SICK. 



37 



When He came back to Ca-per-na-um, though, all wished 
to hear Him speak, and to look once more on the face they 
loved so well. He went to the home of Pe-ter, which was a 




" Some folks who had brought a sick man on his couch, made a hole in the roof of the 
house and let him down at the feet of Je-sus." 

large house and would hold a big crowd ; here he talked to 
the throngs that pressed in. There was not room for all who 
would hear Him ; and so, some folks who had brought a 
sick man there on his couch, went on the roof, and through 



38 THE LIFE OP CHRIST 

a hole which they made let down the sick man at the feet 
of Je-sus. As this sad sight met the eyes of Christ, His 
great heart was so touched that He would not go on with 
His talk till He had cured the man. He first told him that 
He was free from all his sin, and then said : " Rise, take up 
thy bed, and go to thy house." Faith filled the man's heart, 
and though he had been weak and sick for a long time, he 
rose at the word of Je-sus ; strength came to his limbs, and 
he did as Je-sus told him. So great was this cure that some 
of the priests of the Jews who saw it gave praise to God, 
and said : " We have seen strange things this day." 

We will speak just here of one more great cure that 
Je-sus made ; this time it was near Je-ru-sa-lem, and a big 
crowd saw it. Near one of the gates of Je-ru-sa-lem was a 
pool of wa-ter called the Pool of Be-thes-da ; this name 
means the House of Mer-cy. All who were sick or weak 
came here with the thought that if at just the right time 
they bathed in the wa-ter they would be cured. The wa-ter 
in the pool was stirred at times, and folks thought that an 
an-gel from God did it ; this was the time to step in the 
pool ; those who could not get in till the wa-ter was smooth 
would get no help. 

Je-sus stood here one Sun-clay, and with a sad heart 
watched the scene. In all the crowd who pushed and strove 
to reach the wa-ter, or were borne in by friends, He saw 
one sick man lay still on bis bed, with none to help him. 
Je-sus went at once to his side and said : " Do you wish to 
be made well ? " The man raised his eyes to the kind face 
of Je-sus, and said : " I have none to put me in the wa-ter ; 
while I try to reach the pool some one steps in and I am 
too late." What strange thoughts must have filled this 
man's heart when the words of Je-sus showed him that he 



JESUS HEALS THE SICK. 39 

need not wait to bathe in the pool. " Rise," said our Lord, 
" take up thy bed and walk." Faith seems to have come in 
men's minds at the words of Jesus, for this man had no 
doubt of his pow-er to do as he was told ; he rose at once, 
took up his bed, and left the crowd of sick folks a well, 
strong man. 

Now there was a class of Jews called Phar-i-sees, who 
had a strict law that on the Sab-bath none should raise a 
hand to work ; no Phar-i-see would dare to lift so much as 
a rug from the floor, or to help a sick man in his bed ; to 
cure the sick on the Sab-bath was a crime in the eyes of the 
Phar-i-sees. Now, both Je-sus and this sick man broke this 
law ; when the Jews saw the man bear his bed they were 
shocked and said : " It is a sin to car-ry thy bed on the Sab- 
bath." When he told them of the man who had cured him 
and bade him bear his bed to his home, their rage grew 
strong and fierce, and they looked for Je-sus to kill Him. 
They had not far to look, for Je-sus had gone at once to the 
Tem-ple to tell of the truth of God's word. When the mob 
of fierce men told Je-sus how wrong they thought his act, 
He turned on them and said that they had no right to 
judge the son of God ; at these brave words the men were 
still more an-gry, and they watched Him while He stayed 
in Je-ru-sa-lem to see if He dared yet a-gain break their 
laws. 

Je-sus knew no fear, as we have seen, and so once as He 
and his dis-ci-ples walked through a corn-field on the Sab- 
bath, He told them to pick the corn and eat it, for they 
were in need of food. When He was a-gain told that this 
was a sin, He said that He was the Lord of the Sab-bath, 
and that the Sab-bath was made for man's good ; man was 
not made for the Sab-bath. Once more at this time does 



40 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Je-sus dare, for the sake of a sick man, to act in just the 
way that He knew would bring wrath on Him. 

As He preached one day in a church he saw a man whose 
right hand was so drawn and bent with pain that he could 
not use it. The Phar-i-sees watched Je-sus to see what He 
would do, and He, who read their thoughts, told the man to 
come out where all could see him. Then He asked the 
Phar-i-sees if it was right to do good or to do wrong on the 
Sab-bath — to save life or to kill ? He then told the 'man to 
stretch forth his right hand, and it grew at His word as 
strong and straight as the left one. The rage of the Phar- 
i-sees now grew so fierce that Je-sus saw that they would 
kill Him if he stayed in Je-ru-sa-lem ; so, not that He feared 
death, but that He might live till His work was done, He 
left the holy city and went back to Gal-i-lee. 



CHAPTER IX. 

JE-SUS SPEAKS FROM THE HILL-SIDE. 

When Je-sus came back to Gal-i-lee crowds thronged to 
His side, and He could at this time have been at the head 
of a great host of men ; but this was not the will of God. 
Je-sus found so much work to do that He felt the need of 
help in it, and so he called to His side twelve men whom 
He felt that he could trust. We shall see that one of these 
men turned from Christ as time went on, but the rest 
stayed with Him through His life, and were known as the 
twelve dis-ci-ples. Here are the names of them all : — 

Si-mon Pe-ter, Mat-thew, 

An-drew, Thom-as, 

James, James (2d), 



JESUS SPEAKS FROM THE HILLSIDE. 



41 



John, 

Phil-ip, 

Na-than-a-el, 



Thad-de-us, 
Si-mon (2d), 
Ju-das Is-car-i-ot. 




Je-sus and His twelve dis-ci-ples. 

When Je-sus had called these men to Him, He told them 
how He wished them to live. They must take no thought 
of gold, nor of what they should eat or drink, or how they 
should be clothed ; they must trust all this to those to whom 
they preached, They must heal the sick, give sight to the 



42 THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 

blind, make the deaf hear and the lame walk. When they 
came to a town or house they must say : " Peace be in this 
place ; " but if folks would not hear their words, then they 
must do no good works there, but go on to the next place. 
He told them that if they went with Him their lives would 
be hard, for men would hate them and try to do them harm ; 
then to cheer them, He said that God, who cared for the 
least of the birds (spar-rows) would care far more for them. 
When Je-sus had said these words to the dis-ci-ples, He 
went up on a high hill to pray and to learn the will of 
His Fath-er. He stayed here all night, and when He came 
down He found a great crowd on the plain who longed to 
hear His words. 

In the still, dark night, on the lone hill-top, God had told 
Je-sus how He wished men to live. God's will is just the 
same now ; so let us see what Je-sus now told the great 
crowd in His Ser-mon on the Mount : " Bless-ed are the 
meek, and those who grieve for their sins," said Je-sus, " for 
they shall come in-to heav-en. Bless-ed are those that 
mourn, for they shall be soothed. Bless-ed are those who 
long to be good, for God will give them help. Bless-ed are 
those who are kind to others, for God will be kind to them. 
Bless-ed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 
Bless-ed are those who try to keep peace, for God will call 
them His sons. Bless-ed are those who, when they try to be 
good, are hurt, for they shall come in-to heav-en. Bless-ed 
are those who are kind to their foes as well as to their 
friends." Then Je-sus told them that they must bless those 
who cursed them ; do good to those who ha-ted them, and 
pray for those who did wrong to them. He said, too, that 
in the old time it was said that folks should not kill, but 
that He said folks should not e-ven get in a rage. He told 



JESUS SPEAKS FKOM THE HILLSIDE. 43 

them that they must not pray in the streets, as the Phar-i- 
sees did, that men might see them, but that they must pray 
in their homes ; and then He gave them the " Lord's 
Prayer," to show them how they should pray. 




Je-sus de-liv-er-ing His Ser-mon on tha Mount. 

Je-sus spoke a long while of all the things that men must 
do to lead good lives, and then He said that those who 
heard His words were like two men who each built a house. 
One man built on the sands, by the sea, and when the storm 



44 THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 

came the house fell, and was swept out of sight by the 
waves. The oth-er man built his house on a rock, and, 
though the winds blew hard and the waves dashed high, 
the house stood firm on the rock. 

Those who heard the words of Je-sus, but did not do them, 
were, so He said, like the man who built on the sand, they 
would all be lost ; but those who did as he told them were 
like the man who built on a rock, for they would stand 
firm on the rock of God's word, and come at last safe to His 
home on high. 

When Je-sus was through with His long talk, in which 
He had told the peo-ple such strange things, He went in 
search of the rest of which he stood in sore need. Not long 
did the dear Lord give to His own needs, though, for on the 
next day He left Ca-per-na-um and went on one of those 
long trips so full of good deeds. 



CHAPTER X. 

JE-SUS GFVES LIFE TO THE DEAD. 

We have seen Je-sus give health to the sick, and make a 
crazed, weak brain clear and strong. We have seen Him 
heal a lep-er, and put strength in a hand so bent and weak 
from pain that it could not be used, but now we are to see 
Him do a deed so great that awe and fear filled the minds 
of all who knew of it. 

Just as the night drew on, Je-sus and His dis-ci-ples 
came near a small town in Gal-i-lee by the name of Nain 
(the De-light-ful). Here they saw a sad sight : out from the 
gates of the town came a long line of folks, who mourned 
for the death of a young man whose corpse they now bore 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO THE DEAD. 45 

to the grave. In those far-off days, in the East, there was 
a law that all who met such a band as this should join in 
the grief, and go to the grave with the rest. So Je-sus and 
His dis-ci-ples turned their steps, and joined the sad group. 

Close to the corpse of the young man walked a wom-an, 
whose grief was so great that it was not hard to see that 
she was his moth-er. Je-sus stepped through the crowd, 
and came close to this sad wom-an ; He spoke to her in a 
low, sweet voice, and said : " Weep not." Then he laid His 
hands on the bier, and those who bore it stood still. How 
still the crowd must have grown ; they had all heard of the 
great works of Je-sus, and they now stood in wait to see 
what He would do. In the midst of the great hush, the 
voice of Je-sus rose strong and clear. He spoke to the 
dead, and His words were : " Young man, I say to you — 
A-rise ! " These were strange words ; but no time was there 
for men to doubt the pow-er of Je-sus ; at the sound of His 
voice the dead man sat up, and spoke. Then Je-sus gave 
him to his moth-er, and went on His way. 

Fear fell on all hearts, and far and fast spread the news of 
this great act. It reached the great city of Je-ru-sa-lem, and 
e-ven crept in-to the pris-on cell where all these long months 
John the Bap-tist had been kept at the word of a cru-el 
king. John knew that death was the on-ly means by which 
he should leave his cold, dark cell, and he longed to be sure 
that the Christ of whom he had told men was on earth. 
So he sent some men whom he could trust to ask Je-sus if 
He, who had raised this man from the dead, was in truth 
the Mes-si-ah, or if they must still look for some-one else. 
Not one com-plaint did this brave, good John the Bap-tist 
make for his own sad state ; not one cry to Je-sus for help ; 
just, " Are you the Christ % " 



46 



THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 



And what word did Je-sus send back ? " Tell John," said 
He to the men, " what you have seen and heard : the blind 
are made to see, the lame to walk, the lep-ers are cleansed, 
and the deaf hear ; the dead are raised up, and the Word of 




Je-sus re-stor-ing the wid-ow's son to life at Nain. 

God is preached to the poor." Can you doubt that when 
John the Bap-tist heard of these great works, he was sure 
that Je-sus was the Son of God ? 
When these men were gone, Je-sus turned to the great 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO THE DEAD. 47 

mass of folks that by this time were ev-er near Him, and 
praised John the Bap-tist to them. He said that he was the 
one of whom their own wise men of old had said that he 
should come and make a way for the Son of God. There is 
no one in this world so great as John the Bap-tist, said our 
dear Lord. Some in the crowd had been bap-tized by John, 
and felt that the words of Je-sus were true, but the Phar- 
i-sees would not see the truth. 

It was not just the poor, or those whose birth was low, 
that wished to be with Je-sus. He was, just at this time, 
asked by a rich Phar-i-see, whose name was Si-mon, to dine 
at his home. Je-sus wished all men to know Him, and so 
He went to this great house, just as He would have gone to 
the house of a poor man. 

In those days, many small things were done to a guest 
as he came in a house ; the host would greet him with a 
kiss, oil would be poured on his head, and wa-ter giv-en him 
that he might bathe his feet. None of these things did 
Si-mon do for Je-sus ; he may have thought that Christ did 
not know what was the law, and so he just gave Him a 
seat at the feast. Folks did not, at that time, sit on chairs 
when they ate, as we do, but they half lay on a long couch 
drawn up to the ta-ble. As Je-sus sat at the feast and 
talked in His wise way to the great and rich men round 
Him, He gave no sign that He knew how rude Si-mon had 
been to Him. 

There was in the cit-y at this time a wom-an who had 
lived a life of great sin ; she had heard Je-sus speak, and 
grief filled her heart at her bad life, and she longed to talk 
to Him. So when she heard that He was in Si-mon's house, 
she crept into the great hall, then, with no word or thought 
for the host, or the rest of his guests, she fell low on the 



48 1'HE LIFE OF CHHIST. 

floor at the feet of Je-sus. Her tears fell so fast that they 
wet the tired feet of her Lord, and she wiped them dry with 
her long, dark hair, and pressed on them kiss af-ter kiss. 
On a gold chain that she wore round her neck was a box of 
rare oint-ment ; this she poured on Je-sus' feet, that it might 
cool and rest them. As Si-mon watched all this strange 
sight, he thought in his heart — If Je-sus were what he 
claims to be, He would know how bad this wom-an is, and 
would turn from her. 

Je-sus read his thoughts, and said to him : " Si-mon, I 
wish to speak to you. Once two men owed the same man 
a debt ; one owed a small sum, one a large sum. The man 
to whom they were in debt told them both they need not 
pay. Which do you think would love him the most?" 
Si-mon, of course, said the man who owed the most. 
Je-sus said he was right, and then he turned to the wom-an, 
who still knelt at his feet. Up to now, He had paid no 
heed to her ; but now He told Si-mon to look at her, and 
then He said to him : " When I came in your house, you 
sent no one to bathe my feet, but this wom-an has washed 
my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair; 
you gave me no kiss, such as a host should, but she does 
not cease to press kiss up-on kiss on my feet ; you brought 
no oil to pour on my head, but she pours a rare balm on 
my head. For all this, which love told her to do, I will 
wipe out her sins. She has sinned much, but loved much, 
and she will feel that she owes much to the one who wipes 
out her great debt." Then he turned His kind eyes full of 
love on the wom-an and said : " Your faith has saved you ; 
go in peace." 

Those who sat at the feast with Him were great men, 
wise in the law of their land, and they were shocked and 






JESUS SPEAKS GREAT TRUTHS IN SHORT STORIES. 49 

full of wrath that Je-sus should dare say He would blot out 
sin as if He were God, for they did not own Christ as the 
Son of God. 



CHAPTER XI. 

JE-SUS SPEAKS GREAT TRUTHS IN SHORT STORIES. 

A par-a-ble is a great truth told in the form of a short 
sto-ry. Je-sus of -ten used this form of speech. In some of 
these par-a-bles the truth is so plain that e-ven a small child 
can see it. Let us read just here three par-a-bles, which 
Je-sus told at this time. 

One day, as He walked by the sea-shore, such crowds 
came to hear Him that, as He of -ten did, He taught from a 
boat pushed out a short ways from the shore. At this time 
He told them the Par-a-ble of the Sow-er. A man went 
out to sow some seeds. As he flung them from his hands 
some fell by the way-side, where the birds found and 
ate them. Some fell on the rocks, and as there was not 
much earth there, their roots did not grow deep and strong ; 
the fine green stalks sprang up at once, but when the hot 
sun shone down on them they dried up and soon died, for 
they had no strong roots. Some |ell where the thorns and 
weeds grew high and close, and of course they were so 
choked that they could bear no fruit. Some of the seeds, 
though, fell on rich earth, where their roots reached down 
and grew so strong that they helped the ti-ny green stalk, 
when it pushed its head through the brown earth, to grow 
in-to a big, fine plant, that bore much fruit. Je-sus then 
told His dis-ci-ples that the words he spoke were like these 

4 



50 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

seeds. Those that fell by the way and were picked up by the 
birds were those that fell in hearts which cared so lit-tle for 
them that Sat-an came and took them out. The seeds which 
fell on the rocks were those words that came to folks who at 
first heard with joy, but soon put the pure words from them 
and went back to a life of sin. The seeds which fell in the 
thorns and weeds were the words which fell in those hearts 
so full of thoughts of self and of care for the things of this 
world that there was no place for the Word of God. 

Je-sus told at this time a par-a-ble which showed how the 
love of God would grow in the heart if it had just the least 
start. A seed of mus-tard is the least of all seeds, and yet 
it grows to be a tree so large that birds make their nests in 
its boughs. So Je-sus told them that just as a grain of 
mus-tard would, if cared for, take root and grow strong and 
big, — so the word of God, if it once came in a man's heart, 
and was watched and cared for, would grow so big that it 
would fill the man's whole life with peace and joy. 

The Par-a-ble of a Pearl of great price is so sweet that 
you will like to hear it. Je-sus told it, to show how we 
should prize the Word of God. There was a man who 
bought and sold rare gems. One day he met a man who had 
such a fine, large pearl that this man wished for it with his 
whole heart. 

He had much gold, all of which he would be glad to give 
to own this one fair pearl, but the man who owned it 
wished for more than this and put the pearl back in his 
box. Then the first man went back to his home and sold 
all that he had that he might raise the large sum that 
would buy this pearl. So at last he got the pearl, but it 
was at the cost of all else that he owned in the world. 
Je-sus is the Pearl of great price. For His dear sake, and 



JESUS SPEAKS GREAT TRUTHS IN SHORT STORIES. 51 

to have Him in our hearts, we should be glad to give up 
much that we care for — to give up all that we love, if the 
need comes. 




" Fear filled the dis-ci-ples' hearts, and they roused Je-sus from His sleep, and 
begged Him to save them." 

Men so loved Je-sus at this time that one man who was 
strange to Him came to Him and said : " Lord, I wish to 
go with you and make my home with you." The words of 
Je-sus to him sound sad to us who love our homes and find 



52 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. . 

joy in them, for He said that though the beasts of the fields 
had holes and the birds of the air nests in which to live, the 
Son of Man had not where to lay His head. 

Je-sus spoke more par-a-bles at this time, and took no 
rest through all the long day, so when the night came, He 
went with His dis-ci-ples on a boat, and put out to sea, 
where He could be free from the crowds, and find some rest. 

Worn out with the long, hard day, He lay down in the 
back of the boat, and was soon deep in sleep. While He 
slept a fierce storm rose ; the winds blew in great gusts, 
and the waves dashed so high that the boat was tossed like 
a toy from side to side. Fear filled the dis-ci-ples' hearts, 
and they roused Je-sus from His sleep, and begged Him to 
save them. 

When Je-sus had gone to sleep the sea was still and calm 
and stars shone in the clear night sky ; now He was roused 
in the midst of a storm so fierce, that these men, who had 
known the sea all their lives, were in great fear. But Je-sus 
knew no fear ; He felt that He was the Lord of the sea and 
of the winds, and so He rose and calmed the winds and the 
waves with the qui-et words : " Peace, be still." The great 
waves curled their crests of foam no more ; the roar of the 
winds sank to a soft moan, and then, as the boat rode on 
the still sea, Je-sus turned to His dis-ci-ples and said : "Why 
do you fear ? Have you no faith in me ? " 

Awe and fright filled the hearts of these men such as they 
had not known since they had gone with Je-sus, and they 
said : " What kind of a man can this be at whose words 
the winds and the sea are stilled ? " 

The men now steered their boat to the shore and were 
soon safe on the land. In this place, too, Je-sus did great 
works, and men learned day by day to love Him more and 
more. 



BRINGS TO LIFE THE DEAD DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS. 63 



CHAPTER XII. 

JE-SUS BRINGS TO LIFE THE DEAD DAUGH-TER OF JA-I-RUS— 
JE-SUS FEEDS FIVE THOU-SAND FROM A FEW LOAVES AND 
SOME SMALL FISH. 

Af-ter a long, hard trip by land and sea Je-sus came once 
more to His own land ; here He was met by a Jew named 
Ja-i-rus, who held a high place in the church of the Jews, 
and was known to be both rich and great. A grief so great 
had come to this man's house that he did not care for all 
his wealth and high place, but fell like a mere slave at the 
feet of Je-sus and begged for His help. This man's daugh- 
ter, a young girl, not quite twelve years old, lay near to 
death ; all the great doc-tors had said that she must die, 
and in the heart of Ja-i-rus there was now but one hope ; 
this Je-sus of whom he had heard such great things. At 
the pray-er of Ja-i-rus, Christ's heart of love was so touched 
that He turned at once and went with him. The crowd 
that had met Je-sus went too, and as the two men walked 
on side by side more folks joined them. 

In the heart of the great throng was a wom-an who had 
been sick for twelve years. She had spent all her mon-ey 
to try and be cured, but all was in vain, and she had but 
grown worse. Now a thought, a hope, sprang up in her 
heart; Je-sus — can He not cure her? If she could but 
touch the hem of His robe, she felt that she might be cured. 
So she crept through the vast throng and laid her weak 
hand on the fringe that hung from the edge of His robe, 



54 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

and, lo ! — strength came to her — her heart leaped with joy, 
and she turned from the Christ a well, strong wom-an. She 
thought that none knew of her deed — a touch so soft as 
hers could not be felt e-ven by Je-sus as the great throng 
surged and pushed close to His feet. But she did not know 
the dear Christ's power. He turned at once and asked who 
had touched Him. Pe-ter said : " How can you ask when 
so great a crowd is on all sides ? " But Je-sus stopped, and 
His glance swept the crowd till it fell on the wom-an's face ; 
the love in His glance drew her to His feet, and there she 
knelt and told Him of her act. Kind were the words of 
our Lord. " My child," said He, " have no fear ; thy faith 
hath made thee whole— go in peace ! " 

It took but a lit-tle time to heal this wom-an, but the 
brief pause was all too long ; for, while Je-sus yet spoke to 
the wom-an, news came to Ja-i-rus that it was too late to 
help his daugh-ter — the lit-tle maid was dead. Grief now 
wrung the fath-er's heart, but Je-sus soothed him. " Fear 
not, 11 said He, " Have but faith and your daugh-ter shall 
live. 11 So on they went to the home of Ja-i-rus ; when they 
reached there Je-sus waved back all the great crowd ; He 
would let none but Pe-ter, James and John go in with Him. 
Sobs and cries of grief filled the great house, but Je-sus said 
in a grave voice : " Why do you weep ? The maid is not 
dead; she but sleeps. 11 At these strange words some 
laughed in scorn, for they knew the child was cold and still 
in the sleep of death. Je-sus said no more, but passed into 
the room where the dead girl lay ; with Him went the 
fath-er and moth-er and His three dis-ci-ples. He looked 
on the cold, still face of the lit-tle child ; then His dear 
hands, warm with life, were laid on her dead ones, and He 
told her to rise from her bed. There was no pause, no 



BRINGS TO LIFE THE DEAD DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS. 55 

time for the fath-er and moth-er to doubt His pow-er, for, 
as He spoke, the maid rose up and walked. Jesus did not 
act as if He had done a great deed ; He told them to give 
the child food and then went out of the house. 




Je-sus re-stores Ja-i-rus' daugh-ter to life. 



As Je-sus stepped from Ja-i-rus' home He was met by two 
blind men who cried out : " Help us, oh, thou son of Da- 
vid ! " These men walked by the side of Je-sus till He came 
to His own home, and did not stop their sad cry for help. 



56 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



Then Je-sus asked them if they were sure that He could 
make them see; when they said that they were, Je-sus 
touched their eyes and said : " If ye have faith ye shall see." 




Je-sus and the two blind men. 



Sight came at once to the blind eyes ; so we know that these 
men had much faith in their hearts. 

Just at this time, too, a man who could not speak was 
brought to Je-sus ; at the word of Christ this man's voice 
came back to him, and he praised Him who had done this 



JOHN THE BAPTIST BEHEADED. 57 

great thing to him ; so the fame of Je-sus spread far and 
wide in the land. The Phar-i-sees did not like to hear Je-sus 
praised, and the priests in the great Tem-ple, and all those 
who ruled the land, from Her-od, the king, down, had hate 
in their hearts for Je-sus, and feared that the Jews might 
try to place Him on the throne. 

Just at the time when Je-sus was most loved by men a 
great grief came to Him in the death of John the Bap-tist. 
All the long months this man who so loved the free, fresh 
air, and had lived all his life on the wide plains, and in the 
wild woods, had been shut up in a small, dark pris-on cell. 
His death came in this way : 

Her-od had made his wife a wo-man named Her-o-di-as ; 
she had been the wife of a man named Phil-ip, and John 
had dared say that she did a wrong thing when she left 
Phil-ip and went with Her-od ; Her-o-di-as had great hate 
for John the Bap-tist for these brave words. On his birth- 
day Her-od gave a grand feast, at which Sa-lo-me, the 
daugh-ter of Her-o-di-as, danced; Her-od was so pleased 
with her grace that he told her she could ask what she 
would from him and he would give it. Sa-lo-me asked her 
moth-er what she should ask from the king, and this bad 
wom-an told her to ask that the head of John the Bap-tist be 
cut off and brought to Her-od on a great dish. The girl 
went back to the king and made known her wish ; now 
Her-od did not want to do this, but at the same time he 
would not break his word ; and so this great and good man 
whom Je-sus loved and praised was killed to please a bad 
wom-an. 

The dis-ci-ples of Je-sus were not with Him when He 
heard this sad news ; He had sent them out, two by two, to 
bear the Word of Gfod, and to do good deeds, in strange 



58 



THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 



lands. When they came back to Him, so well had they done 
their work, that the whole world rang with the name of 
Je-sus, and crowds, vast, each day stayed with Him all the 
time. 




John the Bap-tist be-head-ed. 

He could get no rest by night or day ; and so one day, 
worn out and weak with work, He took His dis-ci-ples and 
crossed the sea of Gal-i-lee, in search of a place where He 
would not be known, and so could rest and gain strength 



JESUS FEEDS FIVE THOUSAND. 59 

to go on with his work. He chose a vast plain near the small 
town of Beth-sai-da (House of Fish, this name means), and 
here they brought the boat to land and thought to find rest. 
But this was not to be : as they stepped on the shore, so 
great a crowd met their gaze, that it seemed as if the whole 
world had come to meet Je-sus. The folks whom He had 
left in Ca-per-na-um had walked round the lake to greet 
Him, and this throng had been joined by hosts of Jews, 
who were on their way to Je-ru-sa-lem to keep the Pass-o-ver. 
As the keen eyes of Je-sus fell on this mass of men, wom-en 
and chil-dren, He knew that a great work was here for Him 
to do. So He put from Him all thoughts of self, and 
worked with them all the long day. He healed the sick, 
He gave health and strength to those who were weak ; He 
preached and He taught, He said " No " to none who came 
to Him with faith in their hearts. 

At last, the long day came to an end ; the blue lake shone 
in the last bright rays of the sun, as it sank to rest, and 
the still calm night came on ; but this great crowd still 
hung on the words of Je-sus. Then the dis-ci-ples came to 
Je-sus and said : " The night comes on — these folks have no 
food, they are faint and worn ; send them to the town that 
they may buy food." When this thought of food was 
brought to the mind of Je-sus, He looked on these folks 
who had come so far to hear His words, and had not the 
heart to send them all the way to the town. He knew well 
the pow-er that God had placed in His hands, and was glad 
to use it at this time. He told His dis-ci-ples not to send 
the folks from Him, but to find out what food there was in 
the place. Word was brought to Him that there were five 
loaves of bread and two small fish ; what were these in so 
great a crowd ? At least five thou-sand must be fed. 



60 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



Je-sus then told His dis-ci-ples to make the folks sit down 
on the grass in groups of fifty each and that He would give 
them all food. All was done as He said, then He blessed 




Je-sus feed-eth five thou-sand. 



the food, broke it in small bits and gave it to the dis-ci pies 
that they might pass it to the crowd. These twelve men 
had such trust in Je-sus, that they knew in some way this 
strange thing would come out right — so they passed through 



BEINGS TO LIFE THE DEAD DAUGHTER OF JAIEUS. 61 

the long straight lines made by the small groups and gave 
to each one all that was asked. The fish and the bread did 
not give out ; when the last man had had all that he could 
eat still there was some left. The five thou-sand ate till 
they could eat no more, and when they rose from the grass 
so much food was left that the dis-ci-ples at the word of 
Je-sus picked up twelve bas-kets full of food. 

None of all the great acts of Je-sus had so moved folks 
as this one had ; they felt sure now that he was in truth the 
Mes-si-ah ; they would have crowned Him their King and 
borne Him in state to Je-ru-sa-lem. The dis-ci-ples were no 
less moved than the rest of the men and Je-sus knew this ; 
so, as it was not His will to be crowned king here on earth, 
He told his dis-ci-ples to go at once to the boat and leave 
Him where he was ; then, He sent the crowd off too, for so 
great was His pow-er, that men did His word at once. 

When all had left Him, He climbed to the top of a hill 
which rose in the midst of the plain, and there, worn and 
faint, He sank down to rest and pray. 

Not long did Je-sus have to talk to His Fath-er nor to 
rest, for the morn had not yet come, when, as He looked off 
on the lake where His boat tossed and rocked. He saw that 
His dis-ci-ples had need of Him. A sharp gust of wind had 
lashed the small waves in-to big ones that broke o-ver the 
boat and "made it hard for the men to steer to the place 
Where Je-sus had told them to go. When Je-sus saw that 
all their hard work was in vain, He went at once to their 
help ; but to reach them He must give fresh proof of His 
pow-er. 

They were far off on the lake ; He stood on the shore ; 
they could not come to Him ; He had no boat on which to 
sail to them. But Je-sus, who could bring the dead back to 



62 THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 

life, was Lord, too, of the sea and of the land ; He stepped on 
the waves, that now curled their white crests and broke 
with loud roars on the shore ; and He walked on the rough 
wa-ter as if it were smooth glass. 




" As his faith grew faint, Pe-ter sank down in the cold wa-ter. Then he gave a cry to 
Je-sus : — ' Lord, save me.' " 

When His dis-ci-ples saw Him come near them, still and 
calm on the wild sea, they were filled with fear. But Je- 
sus' clear voice rang out sweet and firm : " It is I ; be not 



JESUS CAME NOT AS AN EARTHLY KING. 63 

afraid." Did they still fear, or was it love for Je-sus, a 
wish to be near Him, that made Pe-ter say : " Lord, if it be 
Thou, bid me come to you." Je-sus told Pe-ter to come 
to Him if he would ; and Pe-ter sprang from the boat and 
stepped on the waves with faith in his heart. But the 
waves dashed high, and the thought of Je-sus went out of 
Pe-ter's heart and fear came in ; as faith grew faint, Pe-ter 
sank down in the cold wa-ter. Then he gave a cry to Je- 
sus : — " Lord, save me " ; and Je-sus stretched forth his 
hand, that had saved so ma-ny, and drew Pe-ter from the 
black waves, while He said to him in a sad voice : " Oh, 
how weak was your faith : why didst thou doubt ? " Soon 
Je-sus and Pe-ter were safe in the boat ; and then the wind 
ceased, the waves fell, and in a short time they came to the 
point of land they had tried so hard to reach. When they 
were all safe on the shore, they fell down at Je-sus' feet 
and said : " Of a truth, thou art the Son of God." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

JE-SUS TELLS MEN THAT HE HAS COME TO THEM AS THE SON OF 
GOD ; THAT HE IS NOT TO BE CROWNED AS KING HERE ON 
THE EARTH. 

Je-sus now was so loved by all the great hosts of folks, 
to whom He had been kind and good, that they wished to 
crown Him as King of the Jews ; but though they would 
let Him be their king in this world, we shall now see that 
they would not take Him as the Son of God. When Je-sus 
and His dis-ci-ples stepped on the shore, they found there a 
great crowd from all parts of the land, come to get help. 



64 THE LIFE OP CHRIST. 

Those whom Je-sus had fed with bread and fish were there 
with the rest ; they had gone back to the spot where they 
had left Je-sus, and when they found that He had gone, 
they crossed the lake to seek Him in Ca-per-na-um. When 
they found Him, they asked how He had come there ; they 
knew He had not walked so far, and that His dis-ci-ples 
had gone off with the boat. Je-sus did not tell them of 
how He had walked on the sea ; but He told them He knew 
why they had come to seek Him ; not for love of His words, 
but that He might feed them. 

Then He said that He could do more than give them bread 
to eat ; for He was the bread of life, and God had sent Him 
to give life to the whole world and save men from sin and 
the fear of death. They asked Him how He could prove 
these words ; and Je-sus told them that they ought to know 
from His great works that He was the Son of God. This 
claim was too much for the faith of these folks ; most of 
them knew him as the son of Jo-seph and Ma-ry, as a man 
who lived as they did, save for His great works, and so 
they did not trust Him. They said He might be ,a wise 
man, He might be a great king here on the earth, — but He 
could not be the Mes-si-ah, the Son of God. 

So crowds turned from Him and went back to their 
homes. Then Je-sus asked His dis-ci-ples if they, too, would 
leave Him ; but Pe-ter said : — " Lord, to whom could we go? 
You have the words of truth and life ; we know that you 
are the Son of God." 

The claim of Je-sus to be the Son of God made such a stir 
in the land of the Jews that it seemed best to Him to leave 
for a time. So He and the dis-ci-ples went to the coasts of 
Tyre and Si-don, where the folks were not Jews. As Je-sus 
did not wish to be known, He went in a house and tried to 



JESUS CAME NOT AS AN EARTHLY KING. 65 

keep out of sight ; but a Greek wo-man, whose child was 
crazed, heard that He was there and begged help for her 
child. 

At first Je-sus would give her no aid ; He said he had not 
come to help the Greeks ; His work was but with the Jews. 
We know Je-sus did this just to try the wo-man's faith ; for 
He had come to help the whole world. But this wo-man 
had great faith, and she fell at His feet and begged still 
more hard for His aid. Je-sus then said : — " It is not right to 
take bread from the chil-dren and give it to dogs." Still the 
woman clung to Him, and said : — " That is the truth, Lord ; 
but dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the mas-ter's table." 
When Je-sus found that He could not shake her faith, then 
He filled her heart with joy, for He said : " Oh, wo-man, 
great is your faith ; I have not found so great faith in all 
Is-ra-el ! Be it with you as you will." At that same hour 
her child's mind was made clear and strong: 

Je-sus stayed but a short time in these parts ; then He 
went back to the Sea of Gal-i-lee, and here He made more 
great cures. A man who was both deaf and dumb was 
brought to Him ; Je-sus just touched his ears and his lips, 
and, at once, the man heard and spoke. Then, when He 
was at Beth-sa-i-da, a man who had been blind from his 
birth came to Him and begged for help. Je-sus went out of 
the town with this man, and then He touched the blind eyes 
with spit from His mouth and laid His hands on them. 
He then asked the man if he could see, and the blind man 
said " he could see men walk, but that they looked like 
trees." Once more Je-sus touched his eyes, and told him to 
look up, and this time his sight was clear and bright. Je-sus 
then told him to go to his home, not through the town, 
though, nor must he tell folks who had cured him. Je-sus, 
5 



66 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

tried, at this time, not to have all His great and kind deeds 
known ; for He had no wish to cause strife just yet ; but 
those whom He cured could not keep still, and the whole 
world rang with His name, and yet, — folks would not take 
Him as the Son of God. 

One day, just at this time, Jesus asked His dis-ci-ples 
whom folks said He was. They told Him that some 
thought He was John the Bap-tist, raised from the dead ; and 
some that one of the old wise men of the Jews had come 
back to earth. Then said Je-sus, " But whom do you say ? " 
Pe-ter at once said what must have soothed and made glad 
the sad heart of Je-sus : — " You are the Christ, the Son of 
God ! " Je-sus blessed Pe-ter for these words. 

Now, the dis-ci-ples felt sure that Je-sus had come from 
God to save the world from sin ; they knew He was the 
king for whom the Jews had looked so long, but they did not 
know how He meant to do his work. They thought that 
in His own time He would change from a poor man to a 
great king, who would have wealth and power ; they did 
not think that to save the world our dear Lord was to die 
a cru-el death. Je-sus knew all their thoughts, and He felt 
now that their love and trust in Him was so strong that 
they could bear to know the truth. So one day, when He 
found them at strife as to which one of them should be 
first when He ruled as a great king here on earth, He told 
them that He was not to be a great king here, but was to 
be put to death on the cross. He told them of all the 
shame and scorn that He would have to bear in Je-ru-sa- 
lem, and He spoke of all the pain and woe that He must 
bear, so that the world could be saved from its sin. Then, 
when their hearts were so sad it seemed that they must 
break, He told them that on the third day from His death 



JESTJS CAME NOT AS AN EARTHLY KING. 6? 

He would rise from the grave and come to them once 
more. 

Then He said that His throne was in Heaven, and that 
those who shared His life here on earth should share His 
throne on high. He told His dis-ci-ples just how they must 
live, and we must do the same if we wish to please Je-sus. 
We must think less of the things of this world than of the 
things of God ; we must be glad to give up wealth and high 
place if it is God's will ; yes, we must give up life, if that is 
the way to do the work of God. All this and much more 
did Je-sus teach ; and then He said : — " What good shall it 
be to a man if he gain the whole world and yet lose his 
soul?" 

From this time on Je-sus spoke much to the dis-ci-ples of 
His death, which he knew was near at hand, and He gave 
them rules by which to live when He should be gone from 
them. 

Je-sus loved to go on top of the high hills and spend 
hours a-lone with his Fa-ther ; so He gained strength for 
His work. One day, just as the sun set, He had come with 
the twelve to the foot of Mt. Leb-a-non. He called to Him 
the three whom He seems to have most loved, — Pe-ter, 
James and John, and told them He wished them to climb 
to the top of the hill with Him. When they had reached 
the top, Je-sus prayed a-loud for a time, then went a short 
ways from them and spoke to His Fa-ther words they could 
not hear. While they looked on His dear face, though, the 
lines of care and pain passed from it, and it shone as bright 
as the sun on high. His robe, too, seemed as if made of 
light, so white and pure did it look. While they gazed in 
awe two men, in the same white robes of light, stood by 
the side of Je-sus, and the dis-ci-ples knew them for Mo-ses 



68 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



and E-li-jah, who had died long ere they were born. Then 
said Pe-ter : — " Lord, it is good for us to be here ; let us 
make three tents : one for you, one for Mo-ses, and one for 
E-li-jah." While he spoke, a bright cloud hung low over 




"Two men in white robes of light, stood by the side of Je-sus, and the dis-ci-ples knew 
them for Mo-ses and E-li-jah." 

the place where they stood, and from its depths came the 
voice of God, as He once more claimed Je-sus for His Son :— 
" This is my loved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear 
Him." 



JESTTS CAME NOT AS AH EARTHLY KING. 69 

Then the dis-ci-ples fell on the ground in fear ; but Je-sus 
came to them, touched them, and said : — " Rise and fear 
not." They rose at His words, and saw that all the strange 
sight had gone ; none stood with them but Je-sus, and from 
His face and robe had passed the white light. He was to 
their sight as He had been, but in their hearts still rang the 
words of His Fa-ther, and they knew they were to do His 
will and heed His words. They would have told all men of 
this great thing, but Je-sus said that they must not speak 
of it till He was raised from the dead. 

When they reached the foot of Mount Leb-a-non, a great 
crowd stood there ; from it came a man who knelt at the 
feet of Je-sus and begged aid for his son, whose mind was 
so crazed and wild that he tried to take his own life. This 
man said that he had brought his boy to the dis-ci-ples, but 
that they could not help him. Then, said Je-sus, " Bring 
him to me." When this poor boy was brought to Je-sus, He 
asked the fa-ther how long he had been in such a sad state, 
and the man said since he was a small boy. Je-sus then 
told him that his son's cure was in his own hands ; if he 
had faith the boy could be helped. With tears and sobs the 
man said : " Lord, I do trust Thee, and I have some faith ; 
help me to have more." Then the sweet voice of Je-sus 
fell on the wild brain, and the boy at once grew calm and 
still ; so still that folks thought he was dead ; but Je-sus 
raised him up, and let the crowd see that he was strong and 
full of life. 



70 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

JE-SUS GIVES LIFE TO LAZ-A-RUS, WHO WAS DEAD. 

Je-sus loved lit-tle chil-dren, and once taught a great truth 
to His dis-ci-ples, by the use of a lit-tle child. He heard 
them one day at strife as to which one should stand near 
His throne, and have the best place in the king-dom of 
Heaven. It grieved Je-sus to hear them use harsh words, 
and to hear each claim that he was the best, that he had 
done the most good in the world, and so should have the 
best place on high. So Je-sus just took a lit-tle child in 
His arms, and then said to the men : " Look at this child 
and learn from him how you should act ; he is the least of 
you all ; he is meek ; he is not proud ; he does not boast of 
the good that he has done, nor seek to hold a high place. 
So must you be ; you should not try to be first, but each 
should try to help the rest. He who is most like this child 
shall be great in the king-dom of Heav-en, and he who is 
least like him shall hold a low place." 

Then He talked to them a long while of the love God had 
for the least things in the world ; the poor, the weak, the 
bad, and the young ; God cared for them all. He told them 
of a shep-herd who had one hun-dred sheep in his care ; one 
small lamb strayed off and was lost, and the shep-herd left 
the whole flock and searched for the lost lamb and brought 
it safe home. " He felt more joy," said Je-sus, " when he 
found this one lost lamb than o-ver all the nine-ty and nine 
big sheep that were safe in the fold." Then said our Lord, 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO LAZAKUS, WHO WAS DEAD. 71 

this is the way God feels for one poor soul that strays from 
the good life that God would have him lead. 

It was just at this time that a wise man of the Jews 
came to Je-sus and asked what he should do to be saved. 
Jesus said: "What does your own law teach you?" The 
man said it told him to love God with all his heart and soul 
and strength, and to love and help men as well. Then Je- 
sus told him that if he did those things he would be saved. 
But the man then asked, what kind of folks he must love and 
help. To make the man see just what He meant, Je-sus 
spoke this par-a-ble : A man was on his way to Jer-i-cho from 
Je-ru-sa-lem ; some thieves met him, who stole all his goods, 
beat him, and left him half dead on the road. Soon a priest 
came by ; he saw the man, but paid no heed to him ; he 
crossed the road and went on his way. Next came a man 
who was a Le-vite, and he too passed the hurt man by, and 
gave no aid. Last came by a Sa-mar-i-tan ; when he saw 
the sad state this man was in, he stopped by him ; he 
poured on his wounds sweet oil and wine that would cleanse 
and heal them, and then he bound them up. Then he 
placed the man on his own beast and took him to an inn ; 
he sat by him, and cared for him all through the night, and 
when he left the next day he gave gold to the man who 
kept the inn, and told him if he gave the sick man good 
care he would give him more the next time he came. 
When Je-sus had come to the end of the par-a-ble, He asked 
the wise man which of the three men had kept the law ; of 
course he said the Sa-mar-i-tan had. " That is right," said 
Je-sus, " and the tale shows us that we must love and help 
all men ; none are too low, too poor, or too bad." 

Near Je-ru-sa-lem was the small town of Beth-a-ny ; here 
Je-sus had some warm friends, in whose home he was glad 



72 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



to rest from his hard work. They were two sis-ters, Ma-ry 
and Mar-tha, and their broth-er, Laz-a-rus. Mar-tha was at 
the head of the house, and gave a great deal of thought as 
to the work of the house, and how the meals should be 




" Ma-ry sat at the feet of Je-sus that she might lose no word that fell from His lips." 

served. When Je-sus, whom they all loved, was their 
guest, she felt that no pains should be spared to have all 
things in the home of the best. One day, when Je-sus came 
to them, Ma-ry, in her joy at the sight of her Lord, gave no 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO LAZARUS, WHO WAS DEAD. 73 

thought to the work of the house, but just sat at His feet that 
she might lose no word that fell from His lips. This vexed 
Mar-tha, who thought Ma-ry should help her ; so she came 
to Je-sus and asked Him to bid Ma-ry come and help her. 
But Je-sus said : " Mar-tha, Ma-ry knows what it is best 
to do. You give too much thought to the cares of the 
house, and so have no time to hear My words. Do not call 
Ma-ry from Me, but sit here with her and give heed to the 
truths I shall speak to you." 

We can learn from this that the workof the world is not 
the best thing for us to give heed to ; we must care for 
our souls as well, and learn how to keep them good and 
pure. 

Je-sus told the Phar-i-sees, whose hearts were cold and 
proud, a par-a-ble, to show them that God's heart was 
warm and kind to all men, e-ven those who sinned most. 
This was the par-a-ble of " The Prod-i-gal Son." There was 
a rich man who had two sons ; one of them tired of his 
home, and found his life there dull. So he asked his f ath-er 
to give him his share of his wealth, and let him go out in the 
big world, and taste its joys. This the f ath-er did, and the 
boy went to a far-off land, where he spent his gold, and 
lived a bad, wild life. Soon, he had no more gold ; and all 
his rich clothes too were gone ; then, he tried to get work, 
so that he might not starve to death. He could get but one 
thing to do ; to take care of swine. He was a Jew, and 
they hate swine, so this was as low a thing as he could have 
found to do. But he was too poor to choose his work ; and 
was so near starved that he was glad, not on-ly of the work 
but of the chance to eat the husks that were given to the 
swine to eat. Now, when his fine friends, who had cared 
but for his gold, had left him, and he was in this sad plight, 



74 



THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 



his mind turned to the dear old home and the kind good 
fath-er. 

At last he could not stand this life long-er and made up 
his mind to go back to his fath-er and tell him that he was 




" The son's heart was touched at this proof of his fath-er s love and he said : — 
' Fath-er, I am not fit to be called your son.'* " 

too wick-ed to be called his son, but that he would be glad 
to work as a slave on his place. 
So he rose at once, and set off for his home. The fath-er had 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO LAZAKUS, WHO WAS DEAD. 75 

not put this lost son from his heart ; but watched for him 
night and day in the hope that he would come once more to 
his home. So when he was still quite a long way off his 
fath-er saw him, and ran to meet him, and fell on his neck 
and kissed him. 

The son's heart was touched at this proof of his f ath-er's 
love and he said : — " Fath-er, I have sinned much in God's 
sight, and in yours ; I am not fit to be called your son." 
But the fath-er called the men and said : " Bring forth 
the best robe and put it on him ; place a ring on his 
hand, and shoes on his feet. Kill a fat young calf and 
make a great feast, at which we will all eat and be glad. 
This is my son, whom I thought was dead, but see, he lives. 
He was lost and is found." The old-est son, who had stayed 
at home all these years, was vexed at his fath-er's joy, and 
told him it was not right that more should be done for this 
bad son than for him who had led a good life. But the 
f ath-er said to him as he had to his men, that it was right 
to make glad for this son who had turned from his bad life 
and come home. 

This tale shows us that to those who have sinned the 
most, God will not be harsh if they leave their sin and come 
to Him. God feels the same grief when we are bad that 
this fath-er did for his son ; and our Heav-en-ly Fath-er is 
just as glad to have us turn from sin and come to Him for 
help as the fath-er in the par-a-ble was to have his poor lost 
son come home. 

You have seen that Je-sus thought a great deal of lit-tle 
chil-dren, and now there comes a time in which He shows 
most clear His deep warm love for them. He had worked 
hard through a long day ; and as the night came on He was 
worn out and in need of rest. 



76 



THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 



But in the crowd that pressed close to Him were some 
folks who wished Je-sus to lay His hands on their chil-dren 
and bless them. So they came to Him, with their ba-bies 
in their arms ; the dis-ci-ples, who knew how tired Je-sus 




"Then, tired as He was, Je-sus drew the chil-dren close to Him and laid His hands 
on their heads and blessed them." 

was, tried to keep them back, for they thought that the 
work of Je-sus was far too great to be brought to such 
young chil-dren. But Je-sus heard them, and saw the lit-tle 
ones, and He said : "Do not keep the chil-dren from Me ; 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO LAZAKUS, WHO WAS DEAD. 77 

let them come to Me, for of such are the king-dom of 
Heav-en." Then, tired as He was, He drew the children 
close to Him and laid His hands on their heads and blessed 
them. 

So you see, you are none of you too young to come to 
Je-sus. He loves you all and keeps the thought of each 
one in His heart. 

Je-sus was at a place called Beth-a-ba-ra, when word came 
to Him in haste from Ma-ry and Mar-tha that Laz-a-rus lay 
ill at the home in Beth-a-ny. " Lord, he whom you love is 
sick, haste to him," was the cry of the sad sis-ters. 

Je-sus did not go at once to Beth-a-ny ; He stayed for two 
days more in Beth-a-ba-ra ; and then, on the third day, He 
set out for Beth-a-ny. His dis-ci-ples tried in vain to keep 
Him from this town, which lay too near Je-ru-sa-lem ; for, in 
the great city, there were ma-ny who longed to put Him to 
death. But Je-sus told them that Laz-a-rus slept, and He 
must go to wake him. Then said His friends, " But if he 
sleeps, he will do well ; " then Je-sus told them in plain 
words that Laz-a-rus slept the sleep of death, and He must 
go to him at once. When the dis-ci-ples found that they 
could not keep Je-sus in a safe place they said they would 
go with Him and share what harm might come to Him. 

As they drew near to Beth-a-ny they heard on all sides 
that Laz-a-rus was dead and had been four days in his 
grave. When Mar-tha heard that Je-sus was near she came 
at once to meet Him, and though He had not come to her 
broth-er when she sent Him word, she spoke no harsh word 
to Him. Though He had let her broth-er die she still had 
faith in Him, as her words showed : " Lord, if you had been 
here he would not have died ; and now I know that though 
he is dead, God will give to you all things for which you 



78 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

ask." To these words Je-sus said : " Laz-a-rus shall rise 
from the dead." " Yes," said Mar-tha, " I know that he will 
rise at the last day, when all the dead shall rise." Then 
Je-sus spoke those great words that give life and hope to 
the whole world now ; He said that through Him Laz-a- 
rus and all men should rise from the dead and live once 
more. That those who had faith, though they were dead, 
should rise from the dead. Then He asked Mar-tha if she 
had such faith, and she said, " Yes, Lord ; I know that you 
are the Son of God and can do all things." 

Mar-tha now went to the house, where Ma-ry sat in tears, 
and told her that the Mas-ter wished for her. With Ma-ry 
sat some friends who had come to cheer her and Mar-tha, 
and they thought that Je-sus wished to go with the two 
sis-ters and weep at the grave of Laz-a-rus, so they all left 
the house and went with her to Je-sus. 

Je-sus yet stood out-side of the town, just where Mar-tha 
had left him, and a crowd of folks were near him. 
Through them all passed Ma-ry, and fell in the dust at His 
feet, as she cried : " Lord, if you had been here, my broth-er 
had not died." Je-sus was much touched by her tears, and 
He said to those who stood near, " Where have you laid 
him ?" They said, " Lord, come and see." 

Now some of the Jews saw that Je-sus was much moved 
at the death of His friend, and they said, " See how much 
He loved him ! " But some said, "If He can do such 
great works, why did He let Laz-a-rus die, whom He 
loved ? " So those who loved Him and those who did not, a 
big crowd in all, came to the cave which was the grave of 
Laz-a-rus. A great stone closed the mouth of the cave, and 
Je-sus told the men to roll the stone a-side. When they 
had done so. He called in a loud voice, " Laz-a-rus, come 



JESUS GIVES LIFE TO LAZARUS, WHO WAS DEAD. 



79 



forth ! " What a hush must have thrilled the great crowd ; 
what awe filled their minds, as they heard these words 
said to a man who had been dead four days ! How they 




" When the men had rolled the stone a-way from the mouth of the grave, Je-sus called 
in a loud voice, ' Laz-a-rus, come forth ! ' " 

fixed their eyes on the mouth of the cave ! And as they 
looked, Laz-a-rus, in his white grave-clothes, came forth, 
and they all saw that Je-sus had pow-er over death as well 
as life. 



80 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Some who saw this great thing loved Je-sus for it and 
had trust in Him from that hour as the Son of God. 
Some, though, took the news to the priests and Phar-i-sees 
at Je-ru-sa-lem, and these men, who feared Je-sus, said : 
" What shall we do ? This man does such strange things 
that He will win the hearts of all men, and they will make 
Him king. Then Eome will make war on us and crush 
our whole land. The high priest, Ca-i-a-phas, said that this 
must not be ; they had best kill this one man, so that all 
the Jews should not die. But Je-sus knew that He was 
not yet through His work, so He went to a small town named 
E-phra-im, where he was far from Je-ru-sa-lem, and stayed 
there till next spring, when the great feast of the Pass-o-ver 
brought all the Jews to Je-ru-sa-lem. 



CHAPTER XV. 

JE-SUS GOES TO JE-EU-SA-LEM. 

While Je-sus was in E-phra-im He did not cease to heal 
and help all who came to Him, and the hate a-gainst Him 
in Je-ru-sa-lem grew more fierce from day to day. In spite 
of this, when the spring came, Je-sus and His dis-ci-ples 
went up to Je-ru-sa-lem. They stopped on the road at Jer- 
i-cho, and near the gate sat a blind man named Bar-ti- 
me-us, who begged from all who passed through the gates. 
A great crowd of folks were with Je-sus, and they made 
such a noise that the blind man asked what it all meant. 
When he heard that Je-sus was there, all thoughts of alms 
passed from his mind, and he cried out in a loud voice : — 
" Oh, Je-sus, son of Da-vid, help me ! " Je-sus stopped, at 



JESTJS GOES TO JERUSALEM. 81 

the blind man's cry, and asked what he wished. Bar-ti- 
me-us said, " Lord, give me my sight." Then Je-sus, who 
knew what deep trust in Him Bar-ti-me-us had, said, 
" Go your way, your faith has made you whole." Sight 
came at once to the blind eyes, and Bar-ti-me-us rose and 
gave thanks and joined the crowd who went with Je-sus. 
All the folks in Je-ri-cho wished to see Je-sus, and crowds 
lined the streets through which He passed. There was a 
rich man named Zac-che-us, who was chief of all to whom 
the Jews had to pay their tax. He was not a good man ; 
he had grown rich by fraud, and had sinned in ma-ny 
ways. But he, too, wished to see Je-sus, and so, as he was 
a short man, he climbed up in a tree, and from this high 
perch looked down on the great throng and the man in the 
midst, on whom all eyes were fixed. 

When Je-sus came to the tree He raised His eyes to the 
spot where Zac-che-us sat and said, " Come down, Zac-che- 
us, I will be your guest this day." Je-sus knew the hate 
that the Jews had for Zac-che-us ; He knew all the sin in 
his bad heart, but He knew, too, that the man had need of 
Him. So, with no thought of what folks might think, He 
first tried to save this one soul. Zac-che-us from that hour 
loved Je-sus, and said he would do all that he could to make 
up for his bad life. He said he knew he had been cru-el to 
the poor, and that he would now give one-half of all his 
wealth to them, and that he would give to those from 
whom he once took more than he should five times the sum 
that he took. This showed that he felt grief for his sins 
and meant to try and live a good life, so Je-sus went to his 
home with him. To those who found fault with His act, 
Je-sus said that He had come to earth to seek and save 
those who were lost. 

6 



82 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

The next day Je-sus went out to Beth-a-ny ; he stayed at 
the home of Laz-a-rus, and Martha made a great feast for 
Him. 

While they sat at meat, Ma-ry came in and knelt at 




" While they sat at meat, Ma-ry came in and knelt at Je-sus' feet." 

His feet ; as she did so a sweet smell filled the air, and it 
was seen that she had poured on His feet a rare, sweet oint- 
ment that was worth much gold. One of the dis-ci-ples, 
Ju-das Is-car-i-ot, did not like this act of Ma-ry's ; he said, 



JESUS GOES TO JEEUSALEM. 83 

" This oint-ment should have been sold for a great sum, 
which then could have been used to help the poor." Ju-das 
did not care for the poor, but he kept the bag in which all 
the funds of the dis-ci-ples were kept, and he was such a 
bad man that he wished to have all that he could put in 
this bag, so that he could steal from it. At his harsh 
words, Ma-ry's eyes filled with tears ; but Je-sus said, " Let 
Ma-ry be ; she has done a good deed to me, which shall be 
told through the whole world. The poor you will have 
with you all the time, but I shall not be here long, for the 
time of my death is near, and Ma-ry has done this for my 
death." 

This great feast had been held on the Sab-bath, and on 
the next day Je-sus set forth, for the last time, on the road 
to Je-ru-sa-lem. The whole world now knew Je-sus for a 
great man ; some, we know, loved Him ; some had but hate 
for Him, but all wished to look on Him. Though Je-sus 
knew that hosts of folks would come to see Him as He 
came to Je-ru-sa-lem, He did not wish to go there save as 
the poor man who came to earth to save men from sin. 
He did not wish to go in state as a great prince or a king, 
though He could have done so had He wished. He told 
His dis-ci-ples to go to a small town called Beth-phage; 
there they would find tied an ass and a colt. They were to 
bring the colt to Him ; and if the man who owned it should 
ask why they did it, they were to say : — " The Lord hath 
need of it." The dis-ci-ples did all as He said ; and when 
they had brought the colt to Him, they laid their robes on 
the colt's back, and Je-sus sat on them, and so rode in-to 
Je-ru-sa-lem. 

As Je-sus drew near the Ho-ly Cit-y, a great throng came 
out to meet Him. They cast their robes on the ground at 



84 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



His feet, and they broke boughs from the palm trees that 
lined the roads, and they waved these in the air and cried 
out in their joy, — " Ho-san-na to the Son of Da-vid ! Blest 
is He who comes in the name of the Lord ! " So while glad 




*' As Jesus drew near the Ho-ly Cit-y, a great throng came out to meet Him, cry-ing, 
— ' Ho-san-na to the Son of Da-vid.' " 

Ho-san-nas rang to the skies, Je-sus rode on to Je-ru-sa-lem, 
and to His death. 

As He neared the cit-y and looked on her great walls and 
her Tem-ple of gold and white, He thought how soon the hosts 



JESUS GOES TO JERUSALEM. 85 

of Rome would break down the walls, lay waste the fair cit-y, 
starve the poor folks who lived there, and burn the House 
of God to the ground. 

As these thoughts filled His mind, He cried out, — " Ah, 
Je-ru-sa-lem, if you had but known the things which would 
give you peace ! But now it is too late, they are hid from 
you. Foes shall come who will dash you to the ground, 
and will not leave one stone to stand." 

Through the gates of the cit-y and on to the great Tem- 
ple passed the crowd, and here the boys who sang in the 
House of God joined in the glad Ho-san-nas. When the 
Phar-i-sees and priests heard them, they came to Je-sus and 
asked Him if He heard what the chil-dren said. Je-sus 
said, — " Yes, I hear them ; but have you not heard that 
from the mouths of chil-dren the truth shall come % " 

Je-sus then passed on in-to the Tem-ple ; and once more 
we see Him drive out those who bought and sold in the 
ho-ly place. For four days now Je-sus taught and preached 
all day in the Tem-ple ; He felt no fear, though He knew 
well that the hate of the Phar-i-sees and priests grew each 
day more hot and fierce. They dared not touch Him, for 
His friends kept close to Him, but they kept close watch 
on His acts and His words, and they asked Him things 
which they hoped would catch Him, so that the law could 
put Him to death. But Je-sus was far more wise than 
they, and no fault could be found with Him. 

Each night Je-sus went back to Beth-a-ny to rest in the 
house of Laz-a-rus. 



86 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

JU-DAS GIVES JE-SUS UP TO HIS FOES. 

One of the twelve dis-ci-ples (Ju-das Is-car-i-ot) was, as 
we have seen, a bad man ; he cared far more for gold than 
he did for Je-sus, and at last his love for gold grew so 
strong that he made up his mind to sell his Lord to those 
who wished to kill Him. With this bad thought in his 
heart, he went to the house of the high priest and asked 
how much he would be paid if he gave Je-sus up to them. 
It was a small sum that was named, but Ju-das said he 
would do it for that price. You would not think that Ju-das 
could now go back and take his place by Je-sus' side with 
the rest of the dis-ci-ples, but so hard and wick-ed was his 
heart that he did, and now watched to find a time and place 
when he could give Je-sus up. 

The next day the great Feast of the Pass-o-ver was to be 
kept, and the dis-ci-ples asked Je-sus where they should 
meet to eat it. He said to them, " Go in-to Je-ru-sa-lem, 
there you will meet a man who bears a jar of wa-ter. Keep 
close to him, and when he goes in-to a house say to him 
that the Mas-ter asks where is the guest-room in which He 
may eat the Pass-o-ver. He will show you a large room, 
and in it you shall set out the feast." Pe-ter and John 
were the ones to whom Je-sus gave this work to do, and all 
things were done as He had said. When the night came 
on, Je-sus and ten of the dis-ci-ples, Ju-das with the rest, 
met these two and sat down to eat this last meal, which 
was to prove such a sad one. 



JUDAS GIVES JESUS UP TO HIS FOES. 



87 



We have seen how ma-ny times Je-sus had told the dis- 
ci-pies that they must be meek and not wish for high 
place, and yet at this hour we see them at strife as to who 




" Je-sus, with a ba-sin of wa-ter in His hands, went to each of the dis-ci-ples and 
washed their feet." 

should sit in the chief place at the board spread with the 
feast. As Je-sus heard their words of strife and saw the 
cause, He rose from His place, and, with a ba-sin of wa-ter 
in His hands, went to each and washed their feet. When 



88 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

it was Pe-ter's turn, he said, — " Lord, thou shalt not wash 
my feet." Then said Je-sus, " If I do not, you have no part 
in me." Then Pe-ter told the Lord, if this was so, he 
would have Him wash, not just his feet, but his hands and 
his head as well. 

When Je-sus had washed their feet, He told them that 
He had done it to show them that if He, their Mas-ter, was 
not too great to serve them, not one of them must think he 
was too great to take a low place in the world, and to help 
those who were so low that no one else would care for them. 

The meal which Je-sus and the dis-ci-ples now ate has been 
known through all the years that have passed since then 
as " The Last Sup-per." While they sat at the feast Je-sus 
told them that one of them was to give Him up to death. 
None knew what Je-sus meant save Ju-clas ; to the rest, His 
words came with a great shock. To think that one of them, 
who so loved Him, could do so base an act. No one seemed 
to have thought that Ju-das was the one meant ; a doubt 
seems to have crept in-to the heart of each man there ; for, 
one by one, they asked, " Lord, is it I ?" 

Je-sus said, " It is he who shall dip his hand in the dish 
with me." This did not set their minds at rest ; and so 
Pe-ter begged John, whom Je-sus loved so well, to ask once 
more who it was. Then Je-sus said, "It is he to whom I 
shall give the bread when I have dipped it." 

A sauce of wine and dates was served at this feast ; the 
herbs which were used were wrapped round a piece of bread 
and dipped in this sauce, and then passed by the host to 
his guests. When Je-sus came to this part of the feast, He 
passed the dish first to Ju-das. As this wick-ed dis-ci-ple 
took the bread from his Master's hand, he tried, yet at this 
hour, to make Je-sus and the rest think him true ; for he 



JUDAS GIVES JESUS UP TO HIS FOES. 89 

asked, "Lord, is it I?" Je-sus said, "You have said;" 
and then, as if He was in haste to have the dread hour 
pass, He adds • " Make haste, Ju-das, to do your work." 




; Je-sus took the cup in His hands and gave thanks and 
them to drink." 



it ; then He gave 



Ju-das could play his false part no more, and he slipped 
from the room and went straight to the foes of Je-sus. He 
knew all the acts of Je-sus so well that he was sure when 
the feast was done He would go to the Mount of Ol-ives to 



90 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

pray. He knew that Je-sus would take with Him just His 
dis-ci-ples, and that a band of armed men could with ease 
put to flight these few men and take their Lord from them. 
So he told all this to the chief priests, the scribes, and the 
Phar-i-sees, and said he would take them to the spot where 
Je-sus prayed. 

When Ju-das had left the room, Je-sus spoke words of 
love to His dis-ci-ples, and told them what He would like 
them to do that they might bear Him in mind when he had 
left them. He broke some of the bread used at the feast, 
blessed it, and gave it to them to eat, and said : " Take, eat ; 
this is my bod-y (flesh) which I give for you ; do this that 
you may keep me in your hearts." Then He took the wine 
cup in His hands and gave thanks and blessed it ; then He 
gave them to drink and said : " Drink you all of this ; it is 
my blood which is shed to save you from your sins." 

We keep this " Last Sup-per " to-day from time to time in 
the church ; we do as Je-sus that night told His dis-ci-ples 
to do. Each time we do it, it brings to our minds the great 
love of Je-sus for us, and should help us to vow that we will 
try still more hard to love and serve Him. 

Je-sus spoke such words of love and peace that the sad 
hearts of His dis-ci-ples must have been soothed. He said : 
" Do not fear, nor let your hearts be sad. It is true that I 
must go from you, but I will not leave you a-lone. Peace, 
my peace, I leave with you ; not such peace as the rest of 
the world knows, but the peace that comes just to those 
who know and love me." Then when the last sweet talk 
was at an end, and they were through with the feast, they 
sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Ol-ives. As 
they went on their way Je-sus told them that that night 
they would all know fear through* their love for Him. To 



JUDAS GIVES JESUS UP TO HIS FOES. 



91 



these words, Pe-ter said, "I will not fear, Lord." Je-sus 
said, " Pe-ter, ere the cock crows three times you will say 
three times that you do not know me." Then said Pe-ter, 




" Je-sus left His dis-ci-ple 



to watch while He went a little way off to pray to 
His Fath-er. : ' 



" Though I should die, yet will I not do this ; " and all the 
dis-ci-ples said the same thing. 

Now Je-sus came to a grove of trees on the hill, known 
by the name of Geth-sem-a-ne. Je-sus had come so much 



92 THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 

to tnis spot to rest and pray that the false Ju-das knew it 
well. When they now reached it, Je-sus took with Him 
Peter, James and John, but said to the rest, " Sit you here 
while I go and pray." When He had come with the three 
to the dark grove, He said to them, " My soul is most sad ; 
sit here and watch with me." Then He left them and went 
in-to the depths of the dark woods to speak to His Fath-er, 
and to bear such grief and pain that none must be near to 
see Him. 

As the thought of all He was so soon to bear filled His 
mind, Je-sus fell on His face and raised His voice to God 
and said, " Oh, my Fath-er, if it can be let this cup pass 
from me ; yet not my will, but Thine, be done." 

Three times did our Lord pray this sad prayer ; at the 
end of each prayer He went back to Pe-ter, James and 
John, and found them in a sound sleep. 

Once He waked Pe-ter and said : " Could you not watch 
for me just one short hour ? " When He came back to them 
for the third time and found that they still slept, He said : 
" Sleep on now and take your rest, for the hour is come 
when the Son of Man is put in the hands of his foes. Rise, 
let us go : he who gives me up is at hand." As he spoke 
lights flashed in the dark place, a rude noise broke the still 
night air, and Ju-das and a band of armed men came up to 
the little group of three men. 

In the far east in those days men would greet their 
friends with a kiss, and Ju-das now came up to our Lord 
and said, " Hail, Mas-ter," and kissed Him. This was the 
sign by which he had told the men they should know Je- 
sus. All that Je-sus said when Ju-das gave Him this false 
kiss was, " Ju-das, do you give up the Son of Man with a 
kiss?" 



JUDAS GIVES JESUS UP TO HIS FOES. 



93 



Now the armed men came up with a great show of pow-er, 
but Je-sus stepped out from the grove of trees and asked, 
" Whom do you seek ? " When they said, "Je-sus of Naz- 
a-reth," He said, "I am He." So calm His words, so great 




" Then Ju-das came up to Je-sus and said," Hail, Mas-ter,' and kissed Him." 

His pow-er, that this whole band of men stood in awe of 
Him ; none touched Him. But Je-sus knew that His hour 
had come, and He said once more, " Whom seek ye ? " 
When they said, " Je-sus of Naz-a-reth," He said, " Have 



94 THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 

I not told you that I am He ? If you seek me, take me, and 
let these men go their way." His one thought now was to 
save his friends. When the chief man of the band laid his 
hand on Je-sus, one of the dis-ci-ples said, " Lord, shall we 
not strike them ? " Ere Je-sus could speak, Pe-ter, in hot 
haste, struck one of the men who served the high-priest and 
cut off his ear. Je-sus wished no strife, nor fight ; He 
would go with these men in peace ; so He told Pe-ter and 
the rest to put up their swords. With a swift touch, He 
healed the man's ear, then turned to Pe-ter and said : " Do 
you think that these men could take me if I did not let 
them ? I have but to ask and God would send an an-gel 
host to fight for me. But how then could I do the work for 
which I came ? " 

Je-sus then turned to the crowd and said : " Why have 
you come for me with swords and staves as if I were a 
thief? I taught all day in your Temple, but you did not lay 
your hands on me. This, though, is your hour." 

When the dis-ci-ples heard these words they knew that 
He would not use His might to save His own life, but that 
He meant to go to His death. Then, lest they too should be 
killed, since they were known as His friends, they all fled 
from Him. Not one, save Ju-das, the false dis-ci-ple, was 
near Christ in the hour of His great need ; and Judas went 
with the mob of men, not for love of Je-sus, we know, but 
that he might be paid for his wick-ed act. 



JESUS IS TRIED FOR HIS LIFE. 95 

CHAPTER XVII. 

JE-SUS IS TRIED FOR HIS LIFE. 

By the laws of the Jews, no man could be tried for his 
life at night ; but such was the haste of the foes of Je-sus 
that, though it was still far from dawn, they led Him at 
once to the house of Ca-i-phas, the high priest, where were 
all the chief priests and the court. 

Pe-ter, you know, had said that though he were killed for 
it, he would not be false to Je-sus, yet he had not dared to 
be seen near Him. He could not quite leave his Mas-ter to 
His fate, though, nor could John, whom Je-sus so loved, so 
the two had come to the house of the high priest, and 
while John, who knew the high priest, went in, Pe-ter stood 
out by the door. John spoke to the maid who kept the 
door, and she let him bring Pe-ter in too. As he passed by 
her she said, " Are you one of this man's dis-ci-ples ? " Pe- 
ter, in his fear, said : " I am not." As he spoke these false 
words, far off a cock crowed, but Pe-ter did not hear it. 

He then went off with some of the men and stood by a 
fire that he might get warm. From where he stood he 
could see Je-sus and hear all that was said to Him. It was 
a sad sight on which Pe-ter looked. Je-sus stood in the 
midst of His foes, with His hands bound fast with ropes, 
but He knew no fear, nor did He once fail to speak words 
that put them to shame and showed that there was no sin 
in Him. In vain did this high court try to find faults in 
His life ; they asked Je-sus who were in His band, and 



96 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



what He had taught to men. Je-sus told them they had 
no need to ask Him ; to ask the crowds who had heard 
Him, far and near, in the land, and in the courts of their 
own great Tem-ple. One of the guards, who stood near, 




" Je-sus stood in the midst of His foes with His hands bound fast with ropes." 

struck Je-sus as He said this, and said to Him, " Is this the 
way to speak to the high priest ? " Je-sus turned to him 
and said : " If I speak wrong, prove it, but if I speak the 
truth, why do you strike me?" 



JESUS IS TRIED FOR HIS LIFE. 91 

Men had been hired to speak false words of Je-sus, and 
so try to prove that He ought to be killed, but no two told 
the same thing, so they could prove no wrong. At last 
came two who swore they had heard Him say that He 
could tear down the great Tem-ple and build it up in three 
days. The high priest asked Je-sus if this charge was true, 
but Je-sus would speak no word to him. Then Ca-i-phas, 
who wished to force Jesus to speak His own doom, said : 
" Are you the Son of God ? I charge you, in the name of 
the Most High God, to tell me if you are the Christ, the Son 
of God." Je-sus knew what the end would be, if here and 
now, He claimed God as His Fath-er ; but swift and sure 
His words rang out, " I am ; and you shall yet see the Son 
of Man sit at the right hand of God and come in the clouds 
from Heav-en." 

Then the high priest tore his clothes, to show how 
shocked he was at this claim of Je-sus, and he said, " What 
need of more proof? We have heard His own words. 
What do you think ? " Then the whole court said, " He 
should be put to death." 

This sham court now broke up and left Je-sus in charge 
of the guard. They struck Him and spit on Him, and put 
Him to shame, but He spoke no word to them, though He 
could have killed them all had He so wished. At last they 
bound His eyes, so that He could not see, and then they 
struck Him and said : " Tell us, oh, Christ, who is it that 
strikes you ? " Not a word from the Lord of them all ; He 
is worn and faint from the sor-row He bore in Geth-sem- 
a-ne, and from the pain and shame of the past hours, but 
His lips are closed, He makes no moan. Just at this time 
one of the men who stood near Pe-ter said to him : " Are 
you not one of His dis-ci-ples ? " Still in fear of his life, Pe- 
7 



98 THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 

ter said, "lam not." In the still air rang the crow of a 
cock, but in his fear Pe-ter heard it not. Then came one 
who was kin to the man whose ear Pe-ter had cut off ; he 
said, " Did I not see you in the grove ? " Once more Pe-ter 




" Pe-ter said, ' I do not know Him,' and the cock crowed for the third time." 

said, ■" I do not know Him." As, for the third time, Pe-ter 
said he did not know Je-sus, the cock crowed for the third 
time. Je-sus turned, too, and looked at Pe-ter, for He 
knew what, in his fear, Pe-ter had done. Then, as Pe-ter's 



JESUS IS TRIED EOR HIS LIFE. 99 

eyes met those of his Masters fixed on him in grief and 
pain, yet still full of love, he thought of what Christ had 
told him, and he left the court and went out and wept that 
he had been false to his Lord. 

As soon as it was morn the court met once more, to talk 
of how they could put Je-sus to death. The Jews were 
ruled by the Ro-mans, and so, though their own courts said 
a man should die, they could not kill him till the Ro-man 
court gave them leave. 

So they took Je-sus, bound as He was, and worn and 
faint with His weight of pain, to Pi-late, the Ro-man, who 
now ruled at Je-ru-sa-lem. 

Ju-das had watched all the shame that had been put on 
Je-sus, and when he found that Je-sus would not use His 
pow-er to save His life, great grief for his act filled his 
heart. Then, when it was too late, he would give his life 
to save his Lord ; he broke in on the court and flung down 
the coin that he had been paid and said, " I have sinned ; 
there is no fault in Him ! " But the priests said, " What is 
that to us ? See you to that." When Ju-das found he could 
not save Je-sus, his grief was so great that he went out and 
put an end to his own life. The priests picked up the coin ; 
they could not put it in the funds of the church, since it 
was the price of blood, so they bought with it a field in which 
to lay the dead who were too poor to have their own graves. 
This field is known to this day as the " Field of Blood." 

When Je-sus was brought to Pi-late to be judged, the 
stern law of Rome could find no fault in Him. Pi-late 
asked the priests what crime they charged Him with. 
Now, these priests knew that they had so weak a case that 
Pi-late would not send Je-sus to death at their word, so they 
said to him, " If He had done no wrong we would not have 

LotG. 



100 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



brought him to you." Then Pi-late said, " Judge Him by 
your own law " ; for he knew they could not put Je-sus to 
death by their law 



The Jews were vexed at his words, and 




11 When Ju-das found he could not save Je-sus, he went out and put an end to his 
own life." 

they tried to make Pi-late think ill of Je-sus, so they told 

him that Je-sus had said that He was the King of the Jews. 

Pi-late took Je-sus where none could hear what he asked 

Him, and then he said, " Are you the King of the Jews \ " 



JESUS IS TRIED FOE HIS LIFE. 101 

Je-sus said, " I am their king; but my king-dom is not of 
this world ; if it were, those who serve me would fight for 
me and save me from the Jews." " But," said Pi-late, 
" Are you in truth a king ? " Je-sus said : " You have 
said what I am ; and I came to this world to bring the 
truth. He that is of the truth hears my voice." Pi-late 
then asked of Je-sus, " What is truth?" 

He then left Him and went out to the Jews and said, 
" I find no crime in this man." When the chief priests 
heard this they charged Je-sus with oth-er faults ; and to 
all that they said Je-sus spoke no word. Pi-late wished to 
free Je-sus, and he said to Him, " Do you not hear all these 
crimes with which you are charged ? " But still Je-sus was 
dumb. Then the Jews said that Je-sus had stirred up the 
land from G-al-i-lee to Je-ru-sa-lem. 

When Pi-late heard that Je-sus came from Gal-i-lee he 
saw the chance to get out of this case which so vexed him. 
Her-od, the King of G-al-i-lee, was in Je-ru-sa-lem, and to 
him Pi-late sent Je-sus to be judged. 

Her-od had heard of the great works done by Je-sus and 
was glad to see Him, for he hoped that He would show 
him some sign of His pow-er. But Je-sus knew that in 
Her-od's bad heart there was no faith in Him, and so He 
would not speak to him or do aught for him. This so 
vexed Her-od that, though he could find no fault in Je-sus, 
and could not put Him to death, yet he and his men 
mocked Him and put Him to shame ; then they dressed 
Him in a rich robe, such as kings wore, and sent Him back 
to Pi-late. 



102 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DEATH OF JE-SUS. 

Pi-late did not wish for the death of Je-sus, and when 
Christ was brought to him from Her-od, Pi-late still hoped 
to save His life. He called to him the chief priests and 
scribes and told them that since both he and Her-od could 
find no guilt in Christ, he would have to have Him 
whipped and then set free. Pi-late thought that it would 
please the priests if Je-sus was whipped, and yet that he 
could spare His life. But the priests wished for more than 
this, and so they urged the wild mob of men to cry out 
for the death of Je-sus. Pi-late's wish to save Je-sus was 
made still more strong by word that had come to him from 
his wife. 

In those old days folks thought that God spoke to them 
in dreams, and Pi-late's wife had sent word to him that in 
a dream she had borne such fear and pain for this " just 
man " (Je-sus) that Pi-late must do Him no harm. So Pi- 
late now tried in one more way to save the life of Je-sus. 
At the great feasts of the Jews some one man shut up in 
jail for crime could be set free. So Pi-late said to the Jews 
that though Je-sus had done wrong in their sight, still he 
would set Him free at this time. But to this the wild mob 
cried, " No, not Je-sus, but Ba-rab-bas." Now, Ba-rab-bas 
was a bad man, who had killed some one and lay in jail for 
this crime. 

Still Pi-late did not yield ; he said to the Jews ■ " Shall I 



THE DEATH OF JESUS. 103 

put your King to death ? " Then the Jews made Pi-late 
fear for his own high place, for they said : " We have no 
king but Cae-sar ; when Je-sus says He is our king, He is 
false to Ca>sar ; when he claims to be the Son of God, He 




" Then said Pi-late, ' What shall I do with Je-sus, whom you all call King of the Jews ? ' " 

does wrong to God. By our law He should be put to death, 
and if you save His life, you are no friend of Cae-sar's, for 
you do not keep his laws." 
Pi-late was moved by these words, for he stood in fear of 



104 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

the great Cae-sar, so he went to Je-sus once more and said 
to Him : " Tell me, who are you ? " But Je-sus spoke no 
word. Then cried Pi-late, "Why will you not speak? 
Do you not know that it lies with me to set you free or to 
send you to death ? " Je-sus then told Pi-late that he had 
no pow-er at all save such as was put in his hands by God. 
Once more Pi-late went over to the Jews and begged them 
to let him set Je-sus free, but loud and fierce the cry went 
up, " Not this man, but Ba-rab-bas." Then said Pi-late, 
" What shall I do with Je-sus, whom you all call King of 
the Jews ? " The fierce hate of the priests urged on the 
mob of men, and up went the great cry that meant death 
to our Lord, " Cru-ci-f y Him ! cru-ci-f y Him ! " (This meant 
that they wished Je-sus to be nailed to the cross, for so 
were bad men put to death at that time). Still Pi-late 
begged for the life of Je-sus : "What is His crime ? What 
wrong has He done ? " But the great mob gave him no 
heed save to shout still more loudly, " Cru-ci-f y Him ! cru- 
ci-f y Him!" 

Pi-late did not dare say more ; he feared that Cae-sar 
might hear that he had tried to save the life of a man who 
claimed to be the King of the Jews, and that he might 
lose his high place. But he tried to put the blame of his 
own act on the Jews ; he stood up where all could see him 
and washed his hands, as to free them from the stain of 
Je-sus' blood, and said : " I have no part in the death of 
this just man ; it all lies with you." Then the Jews cried 
out, " His blood be on us and on our children." 

Pi-late had done all that he could do, so now he freed 
Ba-rab-bas and gave Je-sus up to those who used the whip. 
When the cru-el whip had done its work, Je-sus was put in 
the hands of the guard, and these fierce men of war made 



THE DEATH OF JESUS. 



105 



sport of our dear Lord. They dressed Him once more in 
the rich robe which Her-od had put on Him ; they made a 
crown of sharp thorns, and rude hands pressed it on His 




They made a crown of sharp thorns, and rude hands pressed it on His head. 



head with such force that the skin was pierced and 
blood flowed from the wounds ; in His right hand a reed 
was placed. Then, when they had dressed Je-sus as a 
mock king, they knelt at his feet and cried, " Hail, King of 



106 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

the Jews ! " They then spit on Him and snatched the reed 
from His hand and struck Him. 

While these cru-el acts were done Pi-late, the great Ro- 
man chief, had time to think ; he could not drive the thought 
of Je-sus from his mind. He knew that no guilt was in 
this man, and once more he tried to save His life. He took 
Je-sus from the guard, and, dressed as He was, brought 
Him out in the sight of the mob of men who stood out in 
the street to lead Him to His death. But the sad, sweet 
face, marred by marks of blood and drawn with pain and 
woe, did not touch the hearts of these men, nor did Pi-late's 
words move them. " See this man ! " said Pi-late, " I find 
no fault in Him." But up to the skies rang out the fierce 
cry, " Cru-ci-fy Him ! Cru-ci-fy Him ! " Then Pi-late 
knew he could do no more, and gave Je-sus up to His 
death. 

Out through the gates of Je-ru-sa-lem went the mob, 
with Je-sus in its midst. He was forced to bear the cross 
on which He was to die, and faint and weak as He was, 
He sank down to earth with its weight. A man named 
Si-mon passed by at this time, and they stopped him and 
made him bear the cross of Je-sus. 

On went the crowd, now joined by hosts of men and 
wom-en who had known and loved Je-sus. Their grief at 
the sad fate of Him who helped all that came to Him in 
pain or woe was so great that their sobs and cries filled the 
air and fell on the ears of Je-sus. 

No pain of His own was so great that Je-sus could not 
feel for those who grieved, and so He turned to those who 
wept and said : " Do not weep for me, oh wom-en of Je-ru- 
sa-lem ! Weep for your own selves and for your chil-dren. 
The day is near when you shall think that those who have 



THE DEATH OF JESUS. 



107 



no chil-dren are blest. In your fear you shall call on the 
hills to hide you and the rocks to fall on you." 
The hill where the cross was to be set up was round in 




Je-sus was forced to bear the cross on which He was to die, and faint and weak He 
sank down to the earth with its weight." 



shape like a skull, and it was called Gol-goth-a, which 
means The Place of a Skull. The Jews wished to put as 
great shame on Je-sus as they could, so on each side of the 



108 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

cross on which Je-sus was nailed they put a cross on which 
a thief was put to death. 

The great love Je-sus bore to men was shown by the 
words He said as they nailed Him on the cross : " Wipe 
out their sins, my Fath-er, for they do not know what they 
do." 

Pi-late had sent a sign to be placed on the cross which 
bore Je-sus. He wrote it with his own hand in three 
tongues, so that it could be read by all, and these are the 
words he wrote : " Je-sus of Naz-a-reth, the King of the 
Jews." Some of the priests told Pi-late that the sign should 
read that Je-sus said He was King of the Jews ; but Pi-late 
would not have it changed, for he wished these priests who 
had ruled the mob of men and forced them to kill Je-sus 
to feel his scorn of their act. 

Some of the chief men of the Jews who stood by in the 
crowd mocked at Je-sus and said : " He saved men ; let 
Him save His own life, if He be the Son of God." One of 
the thieves, too, joined in this cry and said, " If you are the 
Christ, save your own life and ours too." But the oth-er 
thief said, u Have you no fear of God ? It is right that we 
should die for our sin ; but this man has done no wrong." 
Then he asked Je-sus to think of him when He came to 
His throne on high, and Je-sus said, " This day you shall 
be in Heav-en with me." 

At the foot of the cross of Je-sus stood a group of His 
friends ; with them was Ma-ry, the moth-er of Je-sus ; Ma-ry 
Mag-da-len, whom Je-sus had saved from sin, and John, 
the best-loved dis-ci-ple. Je-sus' heart was wrung at His 
moth-er's grief, and at this last dread hour He longed to 
feel that when He could care for her no more she would be 
with one who had known and loved Him, and who would 



THE DEATH OF JESUS. 



109 



give her the same love that He had. So He told John that 
He left His moth-er in his care ; then He bade Ma-ry look 
on John as her own son. From that hour John took Ma-ry 
to his own home. 




"At the foot of the cross of Je-sus stood his moth-er ; Ma-ry Mag-da-len, and John, 
the best-loved dis-ci-ple." 

It was now the noon hour ; but all at once the sun ceased 
to shine, and the whole land was as dark as in the dead of 
night. For three long hours there was no light, and Je-sus 



110 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

hung there on the cross and bore His pain with no moan 
nor cry. But at the third hour He cried out in a loud voice, 
"My God! My God! Why have you left me?" Those 
who heard Him thought He cried for E-li-jah, and one 
man ran and wet a sponge with sour wine, and gave Him 
to drink, and said : " Let us see if E-li-jah will come and 
take Him down." But Je-sus, who knew that His work on 
earth was now done, cried out in a loud voice, " It is done ; " 
then He bowed His head on His breast and died. 

As the soul of Je-sus passed from this earth the veil 
that hung in front of the ho-ly place in the great tem-ple 
was torn from end to end ; the earth shook and the rocks 
were split a-part ; then from their graves came those who 
had been dead for years, and they walked in the streets 
and were seen by ma-ny. When those that watched Je-sus 
saw these things fear fell on them, and the truth of Je-sus 1 
words came to their hearts, so that some of the wise and 
great men of the Jews said, " In truth, this was the Son of 
God." The death of Je-sus, you see, bore its fruit at once, 
for these men, who had felt but hate for Him while He 
lived, were drawn to Him when He died. 

By the law of the Jews, no cross could stand on the Sab- 
bath day, so when the sun once more shone those who were 
on guard must see that Je-sus and the two thieves were 
dead, so that the crosses on which they hung could come 
down. The thieves were not yet dead, and so, to end their 
lives at once, the sol-diers broke their legs. In Je-sus there 
was no sign of life ; but still the guard must be sure He 
was dead, and so one of the sol-diers thrust his spear in 
Christ's side in such a way that if He were not dead the 
wound would kill him. 

Je-sus had died a death of shame, but he was borne to a 



THE DEATH OF JESUS. • 111 

rich tomb and laid there by those who loved Him. A rich 
and great man of the Jews, Jo-seph of Ar-i-ma-the-a, had 
long loved Je-sus, but dared not show his love. Now, when 
Christ was dead, when the priests and the Phar-i-sees feared 
Him no more, Jo-seph dared show his love. He knew Pi- 
late well, and so begged from him the right to take care of 
the corpse of Je-sus. Pi-late could scarce think it true that 
Je-sus was dead ; He had hung on the cross but six hours, 
and that was a short time in which one would die in this 
way. But the chief of his troops told him of the scene, and 
that Je-sus was in truth dead. Then he told Jo-seph he 
could have his way. 

In Jo-seph's grounds was a new tomb, just cut from the 
rock ; no dead had yet lain there, and it was the wish of 
Jo-seph that Je-sus should be placed there. He and Mc-o- 
de-mus, — one who for fear of the Jews had gone to Je-sus 
by night to learn of the truth, — took Je-sus down from the 
cross. In soft bands of lin-en, in which were rare, sweet 
spices, they wrapped His limbs ; then, in haste and fear, 
they bore Him to the tomb and laid Him to rest. They 
rolled a great stone in front of the door, and then in haste 
went back to the town. They must reach Je-ru-sa-lem ere 
the sun set, for that would be the first hour of the Jews' 
Sab-bath. From far off Ma-ry, the moth-er of Je-sus, with 
Ma-ry Mag-da-len and some more wom-en of Gal-i-lee, who 
had known and loved Je-sus, saw where He was laid, and 
then went to their homes to fix the spices and drugs which 
in those days were placed on the dead when they were laid 
in their graves. 

Now, the words of Je-sus that He would lay in the grave 
but three days had come to the ears of the priests, and they 
went to Pi-late and said : " This man Je-sus has said strange 



112 



THE LIFE OF CIIIUST. 



things ; He has claimed that He would rise from the dead 
in three days. Now, His friends might steal His corpse, so 
that they could prove His words. Give us guards at His 




«• In soft lin-en bands, in which were sweet spices, they wrapped His limbs, then they 
bore Him to the tomb and laid Him to rest." 

tomb." Pi-late said to them : " You have a guard ; go your 
way ; make it as sure as you can." We know that Pi-late 
scorned these priests ; we have seen how he mocked them in 
the sign that he placed on Je-sus' cross. So he sent them 



THE FIRST EASTER. 113 

on their way, and let them work their will ; did he know 
in his heart that Je-sus was in truth the Son of God, and 
would rise from the dead in spite of all their care ? 

The priests placed a guard of strong men at the tomb ; 
then they put a seal of clay stamped with the seal of Rome 
on the great stone, so that it could not be moved from the 
tomb. All that night and the next day, then through the 
next day and night, which was our Sat-ur-day, Je-sus of 
Naz-a-reth lay in the tomb, watched by the guards of Rome. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE FIRST EAS-TER. 

No guard of strong men, no sealed tomb, could keep Je- 
sus in the grave. On the first day of the week, long ere the 
light of the sun had crept in-to the still gar-den, a great 
white light shone round the tomb ; in its midst stood an 
an-gel whose face shone like the sun, and whose robes were 
white as snow. The strong men on guard shook with fear, 
and as the an-gel rolled the stone from the door of the tomb 
they fell down in their fright like dead men. 

On Sun-day morn, while it was still dark, Ma-ry Mag-da- 
len and two friends came to the tomb of Je-sus with their 
rare balm and sweet spi-ces ; but when they reached the 
spot they saw that the great stone was rolled from the 
tomb. Ma-ry Mag-da-len did not wait to look in the tomb, 
but in her fear that the corpse of her Lord had come to 
some harm, she went back to Je-ru-sa-lem to tell Pe-ter and 
John that some one had borne Je-sus from the tomb and 
she did not know where He was laid. The friends whom 



114 



THE LIFE OF CHEIST. 



Ma-ry had left at the tomb went in to see if they could find 
a trace of Je-sus. What is their awe to see, on the right 
side, a young man clad in a long, white robe ? He calmed 




On the first day of the week, an an-gel rolled the stone from the door of the tomb 
and Je-sus came forth. 



their fears at once, and brought joy to their hearts as well. 
For he said : " Do not fear ; you seek Je-sus of Naz-a-reth, 
who died on the cross. He is not here ; He rose from the 
dead as He said that He would. Come see the place where 



THE FIRST EASTER 



115 



He lay. Then go in haste and tell Pe-ter and all His friends 

that He has gone to Gal-i-lee, where they shall meet Him." 

The two wom-en went out in great haste ; they told none 




*' The An-gel said ' Do not fear ; you seek Je-sus of Naz-a-reth. He is not here ; He 
rose from the dead.' " 



whom they met of this great thing, but bore it as quick as 
they could to the friends of Je-sus. But the dis-ci-ples did 
not see the truth of their words, and still mourned Je-sus 
as dead. 



116 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



The word brought by Ma-ry Mag-da-len to Pe-ter and 
John caused them to start in haste for the tomb of Je-sus. 
John reached the spot first and leaned down to look in ; he 




" Ma-ry Mag-da-len did not go home, she stood by the tomb and wept for her dead 

Mas-ter." 

saw but the soft, white bands in which the limbs of Je-sus 
had been wrapped. 

Pe-ter did not stop at the door of the tomb ; he was in too 
much haste ; he went in the tomb. Now the grave clothes 



THE FIRST EASTER. 



117 



of Je-sus lay in neat folds, each one in its own place ; they 
had not been torn off as if by rude hands and thrown down 
in haste and fear. John now went in, and when he and 
Pe-ter saw how the clothes lay, they knew not what to 




" ' Mary,' said Je-sus ; she fell at His feet and cried out, ' Master.' " 

think. They went to their homes with sad hearts, for they 
did not yet see that Je-sus had come back to life. 

Ma-ry Mag-da-len did not go home; she stood by the 
tomb and wept for her dead Mas-ter; and as her tears 



118 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

flowed, she leaned down and looked in the tomb. The place 
where Je-sus had laid was, in truth, bare, but on each side 
sat an an-gel form clad in white. 

At the sight, so fair and bright, peace seemed to fall on 
her sad heart, and when they asked her why she wept, she 
said : " They have ta-ken a- way my Lord, and I do not know 
where they have laid Him." Then Ma-ry turned her head, 
and at her side stood Je-sus ; she did not know Him, though, 
for the light of the morn was dim, and her eyes were full 
of tears. He, too, asked why she wept ; she thought He 
was the man in charge of Jo-seph's place, and so said: 
" Sir, if you have borne him off, tell me where you have 
laid Him, that I may take care of Him." 

A soft voice which she knew well fell on her ears ; it was 
her name in the loved tone of her Lord : — " Ma-ry." Ma-ry 
knew Him then and fell at His feet and cried out, "Mas- 
ter " ; she would have clasped the dear feet in her hands, 
but Je-sus told her that she must not touch Him, for He 
had not yet gone up to His Fath-er. He bade her go and 
tell the dis-ci-ples that soon He would rise to His Fath-er 
and theirs — to His God and theirs. 

In the mean-time the guards had gone to Je-ru-sa-lem 
and told their strange tale to the priests. When the priests 
had talked of this, they gave gold to the guards and bade 
them say that while they slept his friends had come and 
borne Je-sus from the tomb. If Pi-late should hear that 
they slept at their post, the priests said, they would save 
them from his wrath. 



JESUS COMES TO HIS DISCIPLES. 119 



CHAPTER XX. 

JE-SUS COMES TO HIS DIS-CI-PLES. 

Late in the day two of the dis-ci-ples walked toward a 
small town called Em-ma-us. Their talk was, of course, of 
the sad death of Je-sus. A man met them, who joined in 
the talk and seemed to know naught of Je-sus, for He asked 
a-bout His life and death. One of them named Cle-o-pas 
said : " Do you live in Je-ru-sa-lem, and yet not know of the 
things which have come to pass ? " The man said : " What 
things ? " Then said they : " Why, of Je-sus of Naz-a-reth ; 
of the great things that He did ; of the wise words that He 
spoke ; of how the priests and those who rule us have put 
Him to death on the cross ? We had hoped that it was He 
who should rule us, but it is now the third day since His 
death. Some wom-en went to His tomb at dawn and found 
that He was not there. They said that they had seen an- 
gels who told them He yet lived. Some men who were His 
friends then went and found that He was gone, but we 
know not now where He is." Then the man said to them : 
" Oh, fools, and so slow of heart to trust all that the wise 
men of old said of Je-sus! Did He not have to bear all 
these things to prove His words ? " Then He spoke to them 
of all the things that had been said of the Mes-si-ah by 
Mo-ses and the rest of the wise men of the Jews in the years 
long past. He showed them that Je-sus of Naz-a-reth had 
done all that it had been said the Mes-si-ah would do ; and 
yet, still their eyes were so blind, and their hearts so dull, 
that they did not know this strange man was the Christ. 



120 



THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 



When they reached Em-ma-us, Je-sus made as if He 
would keep on His way; but they, though they did not 
know Him, wished Him to stay with them ; and they said : 
" Stay with us, the night is near." So He went in with 




Je-sus and the two dis-ci-ples at Em-ma-us. 

them to the house where they were to stay ; but when they 
sat down to their meal Je-sus made them know Him. He 
took the bread in His hands, as He had done at the Last 
Supper, and He blessed it and broke it and gave it to them- 



JESUS COMES TO HIS DISCIPLES. 121 

Then joy filled their hearts ! They knew their Lord had 
come back to them from the dead ! But, while they looked 
at Him and pressed close to Him, His form grew dim and 
soon they could see Him no more. Then they were grieved 
and said : " Why did our hearts not know Him as He talked 
with us on the way ? " They rose at once and went straight 
to Je-ru-sa-lem ; here they found the rest of the dis-ci-ples, 
who had met by stealth, and with locked doors for fear of 
the Jews. They told them how Je-sus had met them, and 
that they had not known Him till He broke the bread and 
blessed it. 

While they spoke of these things, Je-sus stood in their 
midst and said : " Peace be with you." They thought it was 
His ghost and fear fell on them, but He said : " Why do you 
fear ? Why do you think that it is not I in the flesh that 
stands here ? See my hands and my feet — touch me and 
see. A ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see that 
I have." When they looked on the nail wounds in His feet 
and hands, and saw the marks of the spear in His side, joy 
filled their sad hearts. But lest they should still doubt, 
Je-sus said : " Have you some-thing here to eat ? " They 
brought Him a bit of broiled fish and He ate it ; then they 
were sure that the Je-sus who stood with them was a man 
of flesh and blood, and not a ghost. Then Je-sus said to 
them : " Peace be with you all ; as the Fath-er sent me to 
the world so do I send you." 

Thom-as was not with the dis-ci-ples on the night that 
Je-sus came to them, and when he was told of it, he doubted 
that it was the truth. He said : "I can-not think it was He 
till I can see and touch the prints of the nails in His hands 
and feet, and put my hand in the wound in His side." 
Eight days from then, when it was once more the Lord's 



122 THE LIFE OF CHKIST. 

day, Thom-as met with the rest of the dis-ci-ples. When 
the doors were all shut, Je-sus stood once more in their 
midst, and said : " Peace be with you." Then He turned to 
Thom-as and said : " Reach forth your hand and touch the 
prints of the nails. Put your hand in My side, and doubt 
no more, but have faith." Thom-as did not have to touch 
the cruel scars that spoke of Je-sus' love ; at the sight of 
Je-sus, at the sound of His voice, he knew his Lord, and 
cried : " My Lord and my God." 

For six weeks now Je-sus came and went on the earth ; 
some of His dis-ci-ples went back to their old work, and it is 
on the shores of the lake of Gal-i-lee that we once more hear 
of Je-sus with His dis-ci-ples. Pe-ter and four or five more 
have gone out in a boat to fish ; they toiled all night, but 
caught no fish. When the dawn broke they saw Je-sus on 
the shore, but they did not know Him. He asked if they 
had caught aught to eat, and when they told Him that they 
had not, He told them to cast the net on the right side of 
the boat and they should find fish. They did so, and a great 
load of fish filled the net so that they could not draw it up. 
Then John told Pe-ter that this must be Je-sus; at this 
thought Pe-ter did not wait for the fish ; he thought but to 
reach the Mas-ter. He flung his coat round him, for he had 
no clothes on while he was hard at work, and then sprang 
from the boat and strode through the waves to Je-sus. The 
rest of the men came to the shore in the boat and dragged 
the net of fish with them. When they reached the land they 
found a fire of coals, with fish laid on it, and bread. Je-sus told 
them to bring some of their own fish, and they found that 
their net was full. Then Je-sus told them to draw near and 
eat ; they did so, and none asked who He was, for they 
knew it was the Lord. Je-sus then gave them of the bread 



JESTJS COMES TO HIS DISCIPLES. 



123 



and fish, and when the meal was through He turned to 
Pe-ter and spoke such words of love that they soothed the 
sad heart of this dis-ci-ple, who still grieved sore for the 
great wrong he had done his Lord. 




A : .'.■... 



m 



in 



Wt' 



:m 



:m 



s.xx 



" Then He turned to Thomas and said, ' Put your hand in my side, and doubt no 
more, but have faith.' " 

Pe-ter was now made to feel that though, for fear of death, 
he had three times sworn he did not know Je-sus, yet Je-sus 
had now wiped all this out, and wished to put a great work 
in his hands. " Pe-ter, son of John," said Je-sus, " Do you love 



124 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 

me more than all these ? " Pe-ter did not boast as he once 
did, but he said in firm tones, " Yes, Lord, you know that I 
love you." Then Je-sus told him to care for the weak and 
the poor of this world ; He said, " Feed my lambs." Once 
more Je-sus asked, " Si-mon, son of John, do you love 
me?" And Peter said, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love 
you." Then said Je-sus, " Watch and care for my sheep." 
Je-sus meant by His sheep those who were old in years and 
yet stood in need of care and love. For the third time, 
Je-sus asked, "Si-mon, son of John, do you love me?" 
Pe-ter was grieved that Je-sus should ask him three times 
if he loved Him, and he said, " Lord, you know all things ; 
you know that I love you." Je-sus then, for the last time, 
said to Pe-ter, "Feed my sheep." 

He then spoke to Pe-ter of the way in which he would 
die ; He said to him : " When you were young, you did gird 
you and walk where you pleased; but when you are 
old, strange hands will gird you and take you where you 
do not wish to go." Pe-ter lived to be a ver-y old man, and 
his life was full of great and good works done in the name 
of Je-sus. At last the words that Je-sus had said came 
true, for bad men did gird him and bind him to the cross, 
as they had bound Je-sus. 

It is said that when Pe-ter was nailed to the cross, he 
begged to be hung with his head down, as he was not fit to 
die as Je-sus had done. 

When Pe-ter had heard what his own life would be, he 
asked Je-sus what was to come to John, whom he knew 
that Je-sus loved the best of all His dis-ci-ples. Je-sus 
would not tell him ; He but said : " If it is my will that he 
should stay here till I come, what is that to you ? " 

Once more in Je-ru-sa-lem, Je-sus met His dis-ci-ples ; now 



JESUS GOES HOME TO HIS FATHER. 125 

He told them what their work on earth must be ; they must 
not go back to their old work, but stay in Je-ru-sa-lem till 
pow-er from God was sent to them. Then they should go 
out in the world and bear the word of God to all lands. 
Then He told them that they should do all the things that 
He had done— heal the sick, make the blind to see, and the 
deaf to hear, and raise the dead. They should touch dead-ly 
things and yet come to no harm. He told them, too, that 
though they could not see Him, He would still be in their 
hearts, and would guide and help them. " Lo," He said at 
the last, "lam with you at all times, to the end of the 
world." We must bear these words in our hearts, for Je-sus 
is now just as near each lit-tle child as He was to the dis- 
ci-pies of old. His voice speaks in your hearts and tells you 
what He wills that you should do. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

JE-SUS GOES HOME TO HIS FATH-ER. 

At last the day came when Je-sus felt that His own work 
on earth was done, that He could now go back to His 
Fath-er and leave the work in the hands of His dis-ci-ples. 

So He called the dis-ci-ples to Him, and led them out of 
Je-ru-sa-lem toward the lit-tle town of Beth-a-ny, where was 
the home of Laz-a-rus. He chose Mount Ol-i-vet as the place 
from which to leave this world, and when He and His dis- 
ci-ples were on the top of the mount they looked on Him for 
the last time, then rais-ing His hands, He blessed them. 
While they yet heard His dear voice, and looked on the face 
they loved so well, the voice ceased, and the form and face 
grew dim. A cloud seemed to hide Him from their view, 



126 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



and as they stood and strained their eyes to see Him once 
more a voice was heard at their side. They saw two men 
in white robes who said to them : " Oh, men of Gal-i-lee, 
why do you stand and gaze ? This same Je-sus, who has 




The As-cen-sion. 



gone from your sight, shall come once more to earth in this 
same way." 

Then the dis-ci-ples went back to Je-ru-sa-lem ; they went 
to a house, where, in a room on the top floor, they met 



JESUS GOES HOME TO HIS FATHER. 127 

Ma-ry, the moth-er of Je-sus, His broth-ers, and some wom- 
en who had loved Him. 

They stayed ten days in Je-ru-sa-lem to wait for the pow-er 
which Je-sus had said God would send to them. At the end 
of that time one day, when they were all in one room, there 
came a noise like a great wind ; it was so loud that it filled 
the whole house. Then they saw what looked like tongues 
of fire, and these rest-ed on their heads. At once they knew 
that the Ho-ly Spir-it of God had come to them and filled 
them with might and power. They found that they could 
speak in strange tongues, so that all the great crowd that 
came to Je-ru-sa-lem from all parts of the world knew what 
they said. Filled with this new strange pow-er, they went 
out in the cit-y, and told all whom they met of the love of 
Je-sus. Nor did they cease from that day to preach God's 
word and do His work. Far and near, they spread the glad 
news of Je-sus' love for man, and crowds came to them as 
they had to Je-sus, and brought their sick and their weak 
to be treated. 

They turned from none ; they did good to all ; they tried 
to walk in the same path that the feet of Je-sus had trod. 
It brought some of them to death, and all bore much pain 
and woe for the sake of the Mas-ter. But His love was in 
their hearts, and His words soothed them when the hours 
were dark. By their words and works they brought ma-ny 
to Je-sus. It was a great work that these first dis-ci-ples of 
Je-sus did ; but not one of you chil-dren is too small to do 
the work of the dear Sa-viour. Just think of His great 
love for you, and then try each day to do just as He would 
wish you to, so you can do His work and show to the world 
how much you love Him. 

THE END. 



BURT'S SERIES of ONE SYLLABLE BOOKS 

12 Titles. Handsome Illuminated Cloth Binding:. 

A series of Classics, selected specially for young people's 
reading, and told in simple language for youngest readers. 
Printed from large type, with many illustrations. 



Price, 50 Cents per Volume. 




AESOP'S FABLES. 

Retold in words of one syllable for young people. By 
Mary Godolphin. With 41 illustrations. Illuminated 
cloth. 

ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES. 

(Selections.) Retold in words of one syllable for 
young people. By Harriet T. Comstock. With many 
illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

BIBLE HEROES. 

Told in words of one syllable for young people. By Harriet T. Comstock. With 
many illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

GRIMMS FAIRY TALES. 

(Selections.) Retold in words of one syllable. By Jean S. Remy. With many Illus- 
trations. Illuminated cloth. 

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 

Into several remote regions of the world. Retold in words of one syllable for young 
people. By J. C. G. With 32 illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

LIFE OF CHRIST. 

Told in words of one syllable for young people. By Jean S. Remy. With many illus- 
trations. Illuminated cloth. 

LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 

Told in words of one syllable for young people. By Jean S. Remy. With 24 large 
portraits. Illuminated cloth. 

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 

Retold in words of one syllable for young people. By Samuel Phillips Day. With 
33 illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

REYNARD THE FOX: 

The Crafty Courtier. Retold in words of one syllable for young people. By Samuel 
Phillips Day. With 23 illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

ROBINSON CRUSOE. 

His life and surprising adventures retold in words of one syllable for young people. 
By Mary A. Schwacoper. With 32 illustrations. Hluminated cloth. 

SANFORD AND MERTON. 

Retold in words of one syllable for young people. By Mary Godolphin. With 20 
illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. 

Retold in words of one syllable for young people. Adapted from the original. Witb 
31 illustrations. Illuminated cloth. 

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the publisher, A. I* 
BTJRT, 52-58 Duane Street, New York. 



Mr»i9. aooi 



JUL 8 1901 



